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, …
Fall Equinox: A Spirit Walk
Animstic Permaculture: Waste is a Resource and Honoring the Spirit
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 …
Animistic Permaculture: Observation and Interaction with the Genius Loci (Spirits of Place)
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 …
Animism and Permaculture: Introduction and Ethics
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 …
Living Low Acre: A 20 Year Urban Permaculture Site in St. Louis
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 …
21st Century Wheel of the Year – Reverence at Lughnasadh
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 …
Introduction to Animism: Definitions and Core Practices for Nature Spirituality
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, …
Visioning the Future: The Web of Relationships
Late-stage capitalism has provided us with a series of visions about the future that are pretty terrifying. The grand narratives of infinite growth and progress at all costs have landed us in a warming age marked by the loss of …
Ultimate Guide to Hugelkultur Garden Beds: Creating, Maintaining, and Benefits
Hugelkutltur (or Hugel for short) is a garden bed technique that uses wood and layers of plant matter, topped with compost, to build up moisture-holding beds over time. Hugelkultur beds were first described in Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture book and are …
A 21st Century Wheel of the Year: Re-Visioning at the Summer Solstice
Human cultures throughout the world, modern and ancient, recognize the incredible power, potency, and magic of the sun. This is why so many cultures have sun gods and worshipped the sun, and this is also why so many ancient kings …
Living for the Future at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage
As many of us seek to transition from our current destructive culture and create a powerful vision for the future, we need good models of what this kind of transition may look like. As we are moving forward, this often …
Biocentrism and Ecocentrism as a Core Part of Nature Spirituality
Once you begin walking the path of nature spirituality, things begin shifting. A tree is not just a tree, an insect is not just an insect–they are beings in their own right, with stories to share, lessons to offer, and …
My Best Advice for Homesteading: Planning, Flocks, and Gardens
I’ve been homesteading (or what those in the UK would call smallholding) since 2010 at two different homesteads. Through this, and through being in community groups and having many friends who are also homesteaders, you learn a lot of things …
Building an Earth Oven, Part II: Insulation, Finish Plaster, and Cob Mosaic
In last week’s post, we began exploring the build of an earth oven. An Earth Oven is a simple structure, made of clay, sand, straw, stone, and fire brick, that you can use to cook foods in a traditional way. …
Building an Earth Oven Part I: Foundation, Dome, and Structure
An earth oven is an oven made of cob (a mixture of clay, sand, and straw) with insulating features (firebricks, bottles). It is an extremely efficient and sustainable method of doing any baking you might need to do. One firing …
The TreeLore Oracle and Magical Compendium of North American Trees
One of the most important things we can do to address the challenges of today’s age is to build authentic, lasting, and meaningful nature-based relationships and spiritual practices that are localized to our own ecosystems. We can build deep connections …
A 21st Century Wheel of the Year: Regeneration at Beltane
A druid walks upon a landscape, barren, cold, with trees cut and plants uprooted. Tears in her eyes, she surveys the damage that others have caused: the homes of so many animals disrupted after logging, the wild ramps and ginseng …
Druid Tree Workings: An Initiation from the Trees
In the western esoteric traditions, and traditions tied to them, like druidry, initiation is a powerful method of transformation and energetic work. While features of initiation and their overall goals vary widely by tradition, many initiations do follow some basic …
Druidry for the 21st Century: Setting and Co-Creating Intentions with Nature
Intentions are powerful things. They allow us to shape our force of will and set a path forward. They help us figure out what our own goals are. And I think because of that, we often see them as very …
A 21st Century Wheel of the Year: Resilience at the Spring Equinox
One of the most resilient and enduring plants in the world at present is the Japanese Knotweed. Japanese Knotweed is also the number one maligned plant in the world, as it is able to adapt to a variety of ecosystems …
Daily Rituals: Core Practices for Druids
Daily practices form the foundation of any nature-based spiritual or neopagan path. Daily practices give us a chance to dedicate regular time to our spirituality, to slow down and connect with nature, to protect ourselves from the daily energetic onslaught …