Another mountain is being lost near my home–a mountain that has lost already 50 feet or more of elevation and is being just eaten by machines and humans behind those machines. It’s really hard to frame this any other way–I’m … The post A Primer in Land Healing: Protection and Shi … | Continue reading
Herbalism is the oldest healing modality on the planet.” – Rosemary Gladstar One of the challenges with the modern paradigm is reductionism–breaking things down into small parts and not paying attention the whole: especially the whole person, the whole plant, the … The post Holis … | Continue reading
Land healing encompasses a wide range of activities: from physical replanting, rewilding, and regenerative approaches directly on the land to metaphysical blessings, healings, and palliative care. As I’ve just launched the Land Healer’s Network and am releasing the Land Healing … … | Continue reading
In February, news headlines everywhere began describing a new study from the University of Michigan made claims that urban agriculture (which includes urban farms, community gardens, and individual gardens) has a 6x higher carbon footprint than conventional agriculture. The headl … | Continue reading
Ever since I was little, I have always felt connected with the earthworms in the rainstorms. They come out to bask and enjoy the rain, slithering through puddles, and turning their faces into the warm rain. But modern life is … The post Land Healing in Small Ways: Showing Care an … | Continue reading
To say that most druids and those practicing similar nature-based paths love trees is an understatement. Trees are some of the most magical and friendly of people in our landscape, almost always ready to share wisdom, teach, and provide shelter … The post The Medicine, Magic, and … | Continue reading
The purpose of the Land Healers Network is to provide a supportive framework for anyone, anywhere, to take up the path of land healing. We stand against the continual degradation of the earth by humans and recognize our own human birthright as caretakers, tenders, and healers. We … | Continue reading
I’ve had the blessing of a few really great mentors in my life, people whose teachings and support are valuable to my development as a person, druid, and human being. Few have been as impactful as Sara Greer. Many of … The post Honoring a Mentor and Friend first appeared on The D … | Continue reading
I’ve been a tarot and oracle artist since I began working on the Tarot of Trees back in 2005. I released the Tarot of Trees in 2009, and since then, have also created and released the Plant Spirit Oracle and … The post Avoiding Counterfeit Tarot and Oracle Decks first appeared o … | Continue reading
I see you, beautiful, layered ridges of the Appalachian mountains: your peaks against the blue winter sky, the mist arises from the snow while the Imbolc sun comes out to warm you just enough. Below that, your frozen bones await … The post Love Letter to the Mountains first appe … | Continue reading
Plants and mushrooms have been healing humans since long before recorded human history. Evidence of this abounds from healing plants and mushrooms found on preserved corpses and pre-historical burial grounds (such evidence of herbal use in Shanidar cave from 60,000 … | Continue reading
Plants and mushrooms have been healing humans since long before recorded human history. Evidence of this abounds from healing plants and mushrooms found on preserved corpses and pre-historical burial grounds (such evidence of herbal use in Shanidar cave from 60,000 … The post Her … | Continue reading
Hello, wonderful Druids Garden readers! Today’s blog post will be a little different than others. I wanted to take a day to reflect on the fact the Druid’s Garden blog is celebrating 600 posts and 14 years. It seems hard … | Continue reading
Hello, wonderful Druids Garden readers! Today’s blog post will be a little different than others. I wanted to take a day to reflect on the fact the Druid’s Garden blog is celebrating 600 posts and 14 years. It seems hard … The post 600 Posts and 14 Years at the Druid’s Garden fir … | Continue reading
In my last post, I offered an overview of the three paths of druidry from both an ancient and modern perspective. The paths are: the path of the bard, emphasizing creativity, personal expression, and community; the path of the ovate, … | Continue reading
In my last post, I offered an overview of the three paths of druidry from both an ancient and modern perspective. The paths are: the path of the bard, emphasizing creativity, personal expression, and community; the path of the ovate, … The post Deepening Your Druidry: Braiding To … | Continue reading
In most modern druid orders, we honor three expressions of the druid tradition: the path of the bard, ovate, and druid. I began talking about these last week in my Beginner’s Guide to Druidry post last week. These three paths … | Continue reading
In most modern druid orders, we honor three expressions of the druid tradition: the path of the bard, ovate, and druid. I began talking about these last week in my Beginner’s Guide to Druidry post last week. These three paths … The post Introducing the Bard, Ovate, and Druid path … | Continue reading
Seemingly more now now than ever before, people are seeking ways to reconnect with the living earth, with their own creative gifts, their ancient ancestors. They are looking to deepen their understanding of themselves and the world around them. Through … | Continue reading
Seemingly more now than ever before, people are seeking ways to reconnect with the living earth, with their creative gifts, and with their ancient ancestors. They are looking to deepen their understanding of themselves and the world around them. Through … The post A Beginner’s Gu … | Continue reading
Today I’m very excited to announce the upcoming release of my new book: Land Healing: Physical, Metaphysical, and Ritual Approaches for Healing the Earth. The book is now available for preorder and will be released on March 28, 2024 from … | Continue reading
As we’ve been exploring on this blog, for many of us, life is more than a bit overwhelming right now. Many of us are feeling beyond capacity from multiple angles: the breakdown of the social fabric and increasing social and … | Continue reading
As we’ve been exploring in my post last week–a new paradigm is rising, a paradigm being enacted in backyards, home kitchens, community gardens, clubs, mushroom clubs, herbalism schools, ecovillages, pigment foragers, and thousands of other places. This is a new … | Continue reading
A paradigm is a set of patterns: of thoughts, actions, beliefs, and practices, under which people operate. We all were born into the paradigms of our current age: where money, colonization, domination, and the myth of progress are embedded into … | Continue reading
One of the questions that people who are yearning for a creative practice or who are starting one often ask–where do you get your ideas? Where do you find your inspiration? How do you have visions of what to create … | Continue reading
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