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
The Fall Equinox is a time of no time, a time of balance between the night and day, of balance between the physical and metaphysical. Thus, it is a good time to seek balance and communion with the spirit world, … | Continue reading
Last year, we lost a good friend and foundational member of our homestead–an ancient white oak with a giant burl. She overlooked the stream and I used to sit on a rock near her to meditate. When she fell, she … | Continue reading
In permauclture design, the “observe and interact” principle is the very first thing we do. This principle asks a practitioner to spend considerable time (up to a year) observing and interacting with a site. This would include regular observations in … | Continue reading
Permaculture design is many things to many people–but ultimately, it is a system of design that works with nature rather than against nature. Permaculture uses principles to allow us to have a clear thinking process for creating resilient ecosystems, fostering … | Continue reading
I had the opportunity this summer to visit Claire Schosser and her amazing “Living Low Acre” garden in St. Louis, Missouri. Her home sits on 1 acre in an urban setting and features a fruit-based forest, large vegetable garden, a … | Continue reading
Many of us are now going deeper into the experience of climate extremes. In the summer months here in the US, we are experiencing heat, lack of rain, and drought-like conditions. It is hotter and drier, and that creates stress … | Continue reading
I am hanging out with a friend’s two daughters by a local lake. The lake is peaceful early in the morning, and we are enjoying watching flock of wild geese playing nearby. One of the children picks up a beautiful, … | Continue reading