My heart sings as I look out upon rocky shores where the clean waters meet the rising sun. I watch as the waves crash upon the bladderwrack-encrusted stones. Further inland, the land is vibrant, wild, and beautiful. The rivers and …
Coming Home
Respecting Earth
Druid Tree Workings: Establishing Deep Connections with Trees
Imagine walking into a forest where you are greeted by many old tree friends, each members of different families that form a community. You know their common names, their less common names, and the secret names that have taught you. …
Lessons of the River: Nature Connection, Health, and Healing
Sometimes, natural places call out to us, and we heed their call and journey within these wild places–often gaining profound insights along the way. For some time, I have been called to a particular creek. I would drive over a …
Ethical Sourcing of Medicinal Plants: The Case for American Ginseng
Stalking the Wild Ginseng When I was a child, my grandfather picked wild American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). I remember him talking about it, and seeing it, and him sharing with me what it looked like. To him, ginseng wasn’t a …
Slowing Down the Druid Way, Part IV: Slow Movements and Slow Spirituality
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 …
Urban Homesteading in a Rental House: Late Winter/Spring Updates!
Last year, I explored the idea of “growing where you are planted.” At this stage in my journey, I am working towards living my spiritual principles through permaculture practice within the bounds of a rental house within walkable distance to …
The Way of Wood
Imagine sitting down to your holiday meal with loved ones and family. There is a feast before you–ham, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, corn, gravy, and various other family favorites. The table is decorated with colorful red tablecloths, the lights are low, …
Druid Tree Workings: A Seasonal Approach and the Breath of the Earth
During a recent big snowstorm, I took an amazing ritual walk through the town where I live. We were getting our first substantial snow of the year, and it was a full moon to boot. And so, I spent a …
Druid Tree Workings: January Tree Blessings and Wassail for Abundance
Deep, in the darkest months of winter, a variety of cultures offered blessings to the trees for abundant harvests. A few years ago on this blog, I wrote about Wassailing at a friend’s orchard; since then, I’ve done wassailings each …
Awaiting the Sunrise: Holding an Outdoor Winter Solstice Vigil
A group of people make music and merriment near a roaring fire during the longest night of the year. Their mission: to await the sunrise and hold vigil through the darkness with feasting, celebration, and the burning of the sacred …
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. …
The Giving Garden: A Permaculture Design Site in the Making
“We grow where we are planted.” This is the theme of a conversation on an earlier post from this year. All of us have the opportunity to do regenerative work in the world, in the spaces and places we already …
Permaculture for Druids: Design Principles through the Five Elements
Humans throughout history have looked to nature as the ultimate teacher; nature is the sacred text from which all wisdom flows. As druids, we know the more time you spend in nature, the more you align with its rhythms, and …
Awakening of the Heart: Permaculture’s Ethic of Care
As I write this, a brave group of Native Americans is standing in support of the earth and protesting yet another oil pipeline that threatens water supplies, health, and home. Here, we see the clash between those defending their mother …
The Druid Retreat for Spiritual Work and Healing, Part II: What to do During Your Druid Retreat
Following the path of the sun and the moon, we can learn much about the work of a druid retreat in our lives. The daylight is where we typically live–it is bright, it is loud, people are about, and lots …
The Druid Retreat for Spiritual Work and Healing, Part I: Why We Go on Retreat, Preparation, and Herbal Allies
Each of is like a light bulb. No, not one of those new-fangled compact fluorescents, but rather, one of the old style standard bulbs with the firmament and all. When we go out into the world and do good, through …
Spiritual Practices to Finding Equilibrium in the Chaos: Grounding, and Flow through the Druid Elements
A tremendous amount of really difficult occurrences are happening in the world right now. It seems like the more time that passes, the more we balance on the edge. The edge of what exactly, nobody can say. But the edge …
Embracing “First Aid Responder” Plants
As I grow ever more in tune and aware of nature’s gifts, I keep coming back to one of the tragedies of our age–our incredible misunderstanding of the natural world, the sacred living earth from which all things flow. One …
Wild Plant Profile: Stinging and Wood Nettle’s Medicinal, Edible, and Magical Qualities!
Grasp, love, grasp thy nettle tight! Beneath the blossom there be stings Which start and stab; but out of sight Within that flower lie folded wings So now, ere these be set on flight Grasp, lover, grasp thy nettle tight! …
Sustainable Living in a Rental House: Options, Ideas, and More
As a follow-up post to last week’s discussion of how anyone, anywhere can live a sustainable life, I wanted to share some of the sustainable living things that I am doing here while I’m renting a small house (with terrible …
White Picket Fences, Free Range Fantasies, and the Many Paths of Sustainable Living
We live in a time of grand and sweeping narratives, powerful narratives that tell us who to be, how to live, what to buy, and what to believe–and these shape our actions and identities. When I was a child in …