Spiritual journeys in tending the living earth, permaculture, and nature-inspired arts
Every year, I look forward to the black raspberries that grow all throughout the fields and wild places where I live. These black raspberries are incredibly flavorful with crunchy seeds. They have never been commercialized, meaning no company has grown …
Creating homemade smudge sticks with local ingredients is a wonderful activity to do this time of year. As the plants die back, you can harvest whatever you aren’t using for other purposes and create a number of beautiful smudges that …
Things seem broken right now. These last two weeks have been very hard weeks for many people. The national conversation here in the USA grows more difficult by the day, and it seems nearly every nation is facing many kinds …
As we’ve been exploring over the last few weeks, plant spirit communication can take many forms. The rustle of leaves outside of your window, the inner knowing, or the song a plant sings to you as you honor it for …
I’ve heard a lot of conversation in the nature spirituality community, including the druid community, about not touching nature, leaving it alone, to simply “be”. I remember one influential druid speaking at an event and saying, “The best thing you …
I am excited to announce that my 2018 Mount Haemus Award article, titled “Channeling the Awen Within: An Exploration of Learning the Bardic Arts in the Druid Tradition” has been released on OBOD’s website (a better-formatted PDF is at the …
In this time as the light is coming back into the world, the time surrounding Imbolc, I find myself often going deeply inward for healing and strength and turning towards meditation as a guide for spiritual balance. This deep winter …
“You have so much talent” or “I’m not talented enough” are powerful statements, statements I hear on a regular basis from those who long for a creative practice. The idea of talent can cause an incredible amount of inaction, of …
Everyone has a story to tell, and some stories are worth their weight in gold. How we retell past events, through the bardic art of storytelling, can help shape our present understanding. Thinking about stories as acts of empowerment in …
I was asked to speak at our local UU Church (First Unitarian Universalist Church of Indiana, PA) on the druid tradition. Of course, given the diversity of the druid tradition and the perpetual challenge in answering the question “What do …
This is my song, this is my voice, These are my words, this is my choice. Hear me now, take heed of my words. Love me now, and your spirit will fly. Hear me in the howling of the wolf, …
“The way to see what looks good and understand the reasons it looks good, and to be at one with this goodness as the work proceeds, is to cultivate an inner quietness, a peace of mind so that goodness can …
One of the changes that humans have experienced with the rise of industrialization, and more recently, consumerism, is a shift away from creating our own lovingly crafted objects, objects created with precision, skill, high-quality materials, and care and into using …
Creativity is the singing of the soul. When we create, we draw from the deepest parts of who we are and express ourselves to the world. The act of creation, drawing forth and connecting to our inner selves, is the …
A group of people sharing stories and songs by the fire. A fine pair of leather shoes. A beautiful woven garment. A tale full of twists and mystery. Finely wrought iron doors. An amazing wood carving on a stump. A …
I shall sing of the awen, which I shall obtain from the abyss Through the awen, though it were mute I know of its great impulses I know when it minishes; I know when it wells up; I know when …
Recently, I took some time to go back through the many spiritual journals I have kept on my journey deeper into the mysteries of the druid tradition and my relationship with nature. These journals spanned over a decade. They included …
When I lived in Michigan, each Christmas, a local church just down the road from me put on a drive-by nativity scene. Cars full of people would line up for over half a mile and drive around this circular loop …
What continues to drive me is to live more in line with my principles: to grow my food, to take care of my basic needs, take charge of my health and healing, and to live fully and honestly with myself …
In my last two posts in this series, we explored permaculture design principles from the perspective of our outer and inner landscapes. We now move into a series of posts exploring different aspects of these specific principles. Today, we start …
When I was a new druid, many moons ago, I celebrated my first holiday with another person at the Fall Equinox. During that celebration, my friend had the idea that we could do a holiday craft, what we ended up …