Well, dear readers and friends, the collapse is well underway. It is hard to even recognize this world we live in from before the pandemic. I look at the headlines today, and many of them sound like the science fiction …
Grief and Hope
Tribulations
This is Your Brain on AI: Why AI is Bad for People’s Skills, Cognition, and Mental Health
If we look across nature, the species that are resilient, cunning, and adaptable are often the most successful. Cockroaches, rats, pigeons, and raccoons may top the list of extremely adaptable species–they have adapted even to urban environments and have found …
How AI is Bad for the Planet: Fighting Data centers, CO2 emissions, and more
We are now three years into the age of ubiquitous generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), and well, things are not going well. The world is not a better place for it; most people’s lives are not a better place for it, …
Keeping up Spiritual Practices in Dark Times
One of the resounding things I’m hearing from those on any spiritual path right now is how everything is just falling off for them in terms of their spiritual practices. Its hard to keep up, and hard to motivate yourself …
Surviving and Thriving in the Collapse, Part III: Collapsing Gracefully and Finding the Cracks in the System
I really admire dandelions–and they are coming out in full splendor where I live right now! In my small town, there’s never quite enough money for repairs. And our old trees eventually create cracks and uproot the sidewalks. In those …
Ditch the Screen, Embrace the Green, Part II: Taking Action!
When you grow up in a modern civilization, you become “conditioned” to believe that the way you live is the way everyone lives, or that’s just how things are done. You are made to assume that’s just how it is. …
Ditch the Screen, Embrace the Green Part I: Five Arguments for the Elimination of Screens
Today I want to talk about the idea of “Ditch the screen, embrace the green!” which is a mantra I created for myself some months ago. This little mantra helps me regulate my use of technology, makes me regularly get …
Reflecting on Climate Change and Processing the Grief of Experience
Come gather ’round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou’ll be drenched to the boneIf your time to you is worth savin’And you better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times …
Artificial Intellingence (AI) Tarot and Astrology Readings: A Bad Idea!
Artificial Intelligence has been in common use for a little under two years, and while it is certainly useful in certain industries and domains, it is also currently being used in ways that are problematic. The problem with this technology …
Avoiding Counterfeit Tarot and Oracle Decks
I’ve been a tarot and oracle artist since I began working on the Tarot of Trees back in 2005. I released the Tarot of Trees in 2009, and since then, have also created and released the Plant Spirit Oracle and …
Herbal Releasing Ritual for Samhain
Samhain is marked on my landscape by a hard frost–usually occurring in the last two weeks of October. As I wrote about last week, we had our first freeze just this past week and it is the most profound shift …
Straddling the Edge: Deepening and Seeking a Way Forward
My post from last week generated an incredible amount of discussion from people from all walks of life. So rather than continue to talk about soil (which is now scheduled for next week), I wanted to take another week to …
Straddling the Edge at the Fall Equinox
The Fall equinox is traditionally regarded as a time of reaping the harvest and also a time of balance between the dark half and the light half of the year. As is customary this time of year, I’ve been reflecting …
Resiliency in the Age of Climate Change for the Homestead and Home Garden
I’ve been homesteading for about 12 years now, first in Michigan at a 3-acre homestead, and now with my partner here in Western Pennsylvania on five beautiful acres where we practice land healing, forest regeneration, permaculture, bioregional animsim, tend our …
On Going it Alone: Supporting Spiritual and Regenerative Work in Isolation
Being a druid, nature-based spiritual practitioner, living an earth-honoring lifestyle, or another awakened path individual can be tough, especially when you are isolated and alone. Some people prefer being solitary practitioners, and even if there are others and groups around, …
Rituals to Support Wildfires, Smoke, and Climate Change
It has been a hard week for many in North America, and around the globe. About half of the United States is having record-breaking heat, up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 Celsius) in a heat dome that shows and is …
Artificial Intelligence, Chat GPT, & Midjourney: The Problems of Using AI Image and Text Generators to Create Rituals, Magical Tools, and Tarot Decks
A lot has happened since my initial post on the topic of AI and the bardic arts in mid-October. At this point, AI is being discussed in many different places by many different communities and groups. AI is all the …
The Wheel of the Year for the Age of the Anthropocene
It is hard to deny both the increasing challenge of climate change nor its impact on local ecosystems, local people, and all of us living in this age. While both druidry and Wicca (and many other neopagan practices) share the …
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 …
Transitioning into Deeper Darkness: Seasonal Activities and the the Golden Hour
As the light grows dim this time of year, as the days grow short, many people find this particular season a difficult one. Without the light, our thoughts can spiral into the darkness, our spirits long for the warmer days. …
A 21st Century Wheel of the Year: Release at Samhain
Samhain. The time of no time, the time of the ancestors, the time of the wild hunt. The time when darkness blankets the land, the frost covers the landscape, and many things die. Here in the hemisphere, this signals the …