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 …
Discourse
Wildcrafting Druidry: Getting Started in Your Ecosystem
One of the strengths of AODA druidry is our emphasis on developing what Gordon Cooper calls “wildcrafted druidries“–these are druid practices that are localized to our place, rooted in our ecosystems, and designed in conjunction with the world and landscapes …
On Being a Minority Religion and Paths to Building Respect
“I’m sorry, I’m unavailable to meet on that day.” A pause, “well, why is that? This is an important meeting.” “Because it is a major holiday for me, and I am taking a personal day to celebrate it.” Another, longer …
Awen, Bardic Arts, and the Ancestors
The time between Samhain and Yule is always a time of deep reflection for me. As a homesteader, this represents the end of the season– the first frost happened in the week I was drafting this post, making everything curl …
Cultural Appropriation, Plant Relationships, and Nature Connection
As a druid, someone who connects to the local landscape spiritually, I’ve gotten my fair share questions about cultural appropriation and druidry’s relationship to indigenous practices, particularly traditions indigenous to the USA. The conversation may go something like this, “So …
Druidry for the 21st Century
This is a challenging age, doubly so for anyone who is connected spiritually with the living earth and who cares deeply about non-human life. The Fourth National Climate Assessment, released towards the end of 2018, presents a dire picture for …
Plant Spirit Communication, Part I: Your Native Langauge
When I was new to my first job, a colleague had given two of us both who had been recently hired an elephant ear plant seedling for our offices. Our offices were next to each other, both with the same …
A Druid’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, Part V: Nature Reciprocity
The principle of “seven generations” comes to us from the Iroquois nation, which is considered to be the “Great Law of the Iroquois.” This principle said that each decision that was made needed to consider not just the immediate future …
Authenticity, Ancestors and the Druid Revival Tradition: Reclaiming our Ancestors and Living Druidry Today
A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, anthropomorphisms, in short, a sum of human relations which were poetically and rhetorically heightened, transferred, and adorned, and after long use seem solid, canonical, and binding to a nation. Truths….are coins which have lost their …
On Keeping a Spiritual Journal
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 …
Connection as the Core Spiritual Philosophy in the Druid Tradition
It seems that religions or spiritual paths have a set of core orientations or philosophies that form the underlying foundation upon which the religion and practice rests. This core philosophy is like the seed from which the entire “tree” of …
Slowing Down the Druid Way: Part III: Time-Honoring Strategies
This past week, a friend and I were discussing options for starting seeds for a new joint major gardening project (more on that in an upcoming post). We talked about several options, and deciding we wanted to stay away from …
Slowing Down the Druid Way, Part II: Relationships of Work and Time
In the US, it seems that the first question people ask is, “what do you do?” When they say that, of course, they are not talking about how you spend your leisure time, but rather, the work that you do …
Slowing Down the Druid Way: A History of Time
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 …
A Druid’s View of Cartography: Rewriting Maps and Nature-Human Relationships
This fall, I took a number of weekend hiking and camping trips into different parts of Northern Pennsylvania; to navigate these new areas, I found myself often referring to both physical maps as well as using my GPS for guidance. …
On Being Your Authentic Self, Part II: The Path of the Sun
In last week’s post, I explored the importance of finding ways of living and being your authentic self. I suggested that there were at least three pathways to doing this work: the first of which is Path of the Moon, …
Life in the Extraction Zone: Complex Relationships of Livelihood and Land
As I write this, threats to our lands, our environment, our oceans, and life on earth seem greater than ever before. As I write this, water protectors in North Dakota are getting beaten, arrested, tear-gassed, and jailed. As I write …
Making a Difference
I had a long conversation with an older close relative of mine over the holidays. He had overheard my sister, brother-in-law, and I talking about herbalism, permaculture, cultural shifts. This conversation was framed in the context of the recent Paris …
Earth Ambassadors and Speakers for the Trees
One of the basic problems today is that our land and many of her inhabitants can’t speak for themselves and have no legal rights. The word “agency” in a philosophical or rhetorical sense refers to one’s ability to act in …
The Druid’s Prayer for Peace: Shifting from Exploitation to Nurturing as a Spiritual Practice
One of the things I’m hoping to do on this blog, in addition to my usual “how to” posts, permaculture, and tree work, is give us a set of working tools and philosophical lenses through which to see and interact …