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
Druidry
On Being Your Authentic Self, Part I: The Path of the Moon
One of the struggles that has marked my own path of druidry, and the path of many others that I know, is the challenge of being and living our authentic selves. For me, this is the act of somehow balancing …
Permaculture: Design by Nature and the Magic of Intentionality
I’m sure each one of us has had times where we hadn’t thought through something, the thing happened, and it took a direction we hadn’t intended it to take. A little bit of forethought could have made all the difference, …
Permaculture for Druids, Part I: Sankofa and a Weaving of Past, Present, and Future
Sankofa. This was the first principle taught to me during my Permaculture Teacher Training (from which I’ve just returned), by the incredible teacher Pandora Thomas. Sankofa is a word from the Twi language in Ghana that refers to the idea …
A Druid’s Primer on Land Healing, Part VII: Self Care and Land Healing
Today’s post continues my long series in land healing (see earlier posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), and given the heaviness of the last few weeks of posts, today, I wanted to delve into how to do this …
A Spring Equinox Message: The Gifts of Druidry in the World
Today marks the Spring Equinox, Alban Eiler, a time of new beginnings, of the balance between light and darkness, between summer and winter, and between hope and despair. Given the energy of today and the challenges before us, I’d like …
A Druid’s Primer on Land Healing, Part III: Understanding “Energy” and the Three Currents
This is the third post in my “Druid’s Primer on Land Healing.” The first two posts explored a framework for land healing, including physical and energetic approaches (in part I) and exploring the difference between “healing” and energetic alliterative care …
A Druid’s Primer on Physical and Energetic Land Healing, Part I
As we are all so fully aware, our lands are increasingly under duress in ways unprecedented in recent human memory. At least here in the USA, the systematic pillaging of every resource these lands have to offer continues unabated. And …
Reclaiming Our Heritage and Connection With The Land: Herbs, Plants, and Harvests
As you might have noticed, my posts on this blog slow down considerably in the months of August – October. This is because as a single homesteader, I’m quite busy bringing in the harvest canning, drying, and freezing; preparing my …
Sacred Actions, Blending of Inner and Outer, Oak Knowledge, Living Druidry – Insights from my AODA 3rd Degree Process
I started the Druid’s Garden blog a little over three years ago. I started this blog specifically as a way to document my journey while completing my Ancient Order of Druids in America’s 3rd degree program, which was a self-designed …
Ode to the Tree: The Importance of Trees and Human Health
What’s the value of a tree? What’s the value of a forest? I’ve explored these themes before, but I want to come back to this in light of some new research put out by the Pacific Northwest Research Station, and …
Review, Video, and Discussion of John Michael Greer’s Detroit Community Lecture, “Not the Future We Ordered”
Recently, our druid grove brought John Michael Greer to Michigan, where he did a book signing and gave a talk on the fall of industrial civilization. If you are interested in either druidry or sustainability, John Michael’s works (on druidry, …
A Philosophy of Druidry and Sustainability – Embracing Sustainability as Part of Earth-Centered Paths
This month, I’ll have been walking a forest/druidic path for seven years. This experience includes founding a druid grove, being active in two druid orders, attending multiple druid and larger neo-pagan gatherings, mentoring others, and so forth. And based on …
The anthropocene and the rights of non-human persons
We have entered a new age, what scientists are calling the “Anthropocene,” otherwise termed the “Human Epoch” by geologists. This means, for the first time in history, rather than having meteorological activity, substantial volcanic activity, or other natural phenomena which …
A Druid’s Indoor Altar / Shrine – Seasonal, Elemental, and Spirit
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 …
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 …
Incense Recipies for Ovates and those doing Ovate Studies
Incenses for Ovates The following recopies are most appropriate for ovate work, or those engaging in divination, mysteries, and other spiritual pursuits. I also have posted an introduction to incense making as well as recipes for bards and druids. I …
Druidry and Citizen-Research: Arbor Day Hazelnuts and Project BudBurst
When I attended the East Coast Gathering, one of the talks that really stood out to me was John Michael Greer’s talk on “Reclaiming Science.” In the talk, he argued that science has become rather corrupt, and the funding for …
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 …
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, …