Spiritual journeys in tending the living earth, permaculture, and nature-inspired arts
Everyone, to some extent, is a product of their culture. Our culture’s formal education system teaches a set of skills that are claimed to be beneficial and practical for functioning in present society. Certain sets of skills are privileged, and …
It is that delightful time of year again, when the berries of the fall ripen, when the pumpkins grow orange on their vines, and when the elders are literally loaded with berries. The elderberry tree is a fascinating plant, rich …
I love celebrating the druid wheel of the year. Its just an amazing experience to dedicate eight days to magic, ritual, being outdoors, studying, reading, meditation, gardening, and other sacred activity. I had the most wonderful day today making so …
In my post last week on herbalism, I discussed the intersections of herbalism to druidic spiritual practice and sustainable thinking. In this week’s post, I’ll share my own story about my path into herbalism. This series of posts on herbalism …
Because of my ongoing study of Traditional Western Herbalism as a student of the amazingly awesome Michigan herbalist Jim McDonald. I wanted to take some time today to discuss the potential of herbalism as an essential quality of druid practice. …
One of the primary methods of extracting and preserving the medicine of the plants is by creating healing tinctures, either magical or mundane. This involves maceration (soaking) herbs in alcohol, pressing the alcohol out, and depending on the purpose that …
I remember a sunny day not too long ago in early May when I was visiting my parents in western Pennsylvania. Everywhere we drove, dandelions were growing, their beautiful, bright yellow heads serenading the sun. After one of the coldest …
Early in the spring season (as in, right now), the small, wild purple violets begin popping up everywhere. Where I live, this is usually late April to Mid may. I actually found the first violets here in South East Michigan …
As I mentioned in some previous blog posts, I’m currently taking an herbalism course with herbalist Jim McDonald. I find that visualizing material really helps me. This is my visual from the first class–its the energetics of herbalism, upon which …
Last weekend, I came down with some kind of nasal bug; it was exasperated by the presence of a dog which I turned out to have a pretty bad allergic reaction to. For this kind of ailment, a home remedy …