Now that the winter snows are upon us, I’ve been focusing on some “inside” activities that we can do as druids. I had a few friends new to the druidic and earth-centered path ask about the purpose and setup of …
Knowledge
Shifting Worldviews: Three Books to Read on Sustainability & Druidry
I think that druids, and those of similar earth-centered paths, need to get really serious about sustainability. For what good is a spiritual tradition without the physical action that accompanies it? How can we revere the land while we take …
Three Representations of Druidry: Acorn, Awen, and Stone
I went to a natural gift making workshop (which I will blog about sometime soon) and got into a conversation about druidry with one of my fellow workshop participants. Turns out, she runs a local TV show called “Faith” and …
Successful Intelligence- A Triad for Druidry and Sustainability
Psychologist Robert Steinberg describes three kinds of intelligences that we need in order to solve the many problems of the world. These three intelligences are: Creative intelligence: intelligence required to develop solutions to problems and formulate new ideas Analytical …
Reducing Your Impact on the Planet: Ten Tips to Get Started
As we quickly approach the most consumptive season of the year, I wanted to post about ways that you can reduce your overall impact on the planet. I think its critically important that we, as druids and other earth-centered spiritual …
The Crane Bag: A Druid’s Working Tool
One of the practices that is fairly consistent across different kinds of druidry today is a druid’s crane bag. Traditionally, a crane bag was made from the skin of a crane, and served as a spiritual working tool for the …
The Mystery of the Stumps and The Spiral Path: A Story of How I Became A Druid
Each of us has a story–a story of how we ended up doing what we do, believing what we believe, walking the path that we travel. These stories are often like richly woven tapestries, and I believe that there is …
Moving Sustainability from the Fringe to the Mainstream: The Case of One University
One of the greatest challenges we, as a culture, face is transitioning to sustainable practices and making those practices mainstream rather than fringe activities. In some parts of the country, even access to local foods is not possible; in others, …
Story of the Ancient Maple: From Loved Seedling to Forest Guardian
On this Samhuinn eve, I would like to share a story. This was a story that was given to me. Behind our sacred grove, about 50′ feet into the forest to the north west, is an ancient maple. She grows …
Shaping the Land and Shaping Ourselves
When you are flying* across the country, as I happened to do this week, it gives you a chance to observe the landscape in ways that we cannot otherwise see. When we are on the ground, we are able to …
Druidry and the Art of Sustainable, Meaningful Offerings
In druidry and in other earth-centered religions, its customary to make offerings to spirits, the ancestors, guides, outsiders, etc. We usually do this as part of ritual or solitary practice. Recently, the issue of what to use as offerings came …
Oak Knowledge: Value of Bardic, Ovate, and Druid Knowledge
In the ancient Celtic world, the word “druid” meant “oak knowledge” or more broadly “deep knowledge” (Cunliffe, 1997). This likely referred to the wide variety of activities that druids participated in and the knowledge they held–the knowledge of the law, …
Sustainability, Climate Change, and Inaction: A Stasis Theory / Rhetorical Analysis
One of the most frustrating issues in the sustainability and environmental movements today is the lack of serious discussion or action of any kind on the part of world governments and leaders. While we have stunning examples of people enacting …
Know Your History to Save Your Future
I attended a talk, titled “Local Food Starts at Home” and sponsored by two knowledgeable friends of mine, that focused on increasing awareness of local foods and building a sustainable foodshed in the future for our area. At the beginning …
Living With Rather than Against Nature
A central concept in Druidry is peace. At the beginning of each druidic ritual, we declare peace in the quarters. We a say a prayer for peace (which you can see in my painting I posted earlier this year). But …