Tree love

Thank you, druidlife, for so exactly putting into words my feelings about trees!

Druid Life

Each February, the Climate Coalition’s Show the Love campaign invites us to talk about what we love.

I love trees. I grew up on the edge of the Cotswolds, with hanging beech woods right on my doorstep. Beeches remain my favourite tree, although I’ve yet to meet a tree I don’t like. I’ve been a supporter of The Woodland Trust for more than ten years, and a volunteer for a couple of years now, in a modest and online sort of way. My love of trees makes me want to stand up for trees, and speak up for them.

Every now and then some bright spark will suggest that we need technology to get carbon out of the air and tackle climate change. We don’t need technology, we have a solution. Trees! Trees take carbon out of the air and store it. If we plant trees, we can store…

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Non-Patriarchal Parenting

The attitudes and relationships described in this excellent blog post reflect a much healthier flow of Spirit than one typically encounters when reading about parenting; happy to reblog this 🙂

Druid Life

It is my belief that traditional western parenting models are all about getting children into the system. We have taught children that the authority of the parent is based on their ability to inflict pain/punishment and their ability to withhold resources as punishment. Patriarchal parenting values obedience over all else, it teaches the child to submit to the will of the parent and not to question the will of the parent. By extension, the child learns to bow to authority and participate in systems of power-over. This causes problems around consent and exploitation.

Inevitably, when bringing up children, there is, and has to be a power imbalance. The younger a child is, the less able they are to care for themselves and the harder it is for them to make good choices because they just don’t know enough. I’ve seen a lot of media representations that suggest there are only…

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Tuning in to the Anima Mundi

Last week I shared my imaginal experience of wisdom, so it seemed like a logical follow-up to post about exactly what insight it was that I had received to catalyze the experience. I'll admit here at the start that I am very self-conscious about sharing my personal point of view on some things, but I'm …

Drops of Wisdom

There is so, so much information to process in this modern technological age, and a lot of it is very expertly and subtly spoon-fed to us through advertising. Expanding on and playing with the imaginal experience of that information, the texture of the information being spoon-fed is suitably mushy and formless, easy for whatever hapless, …

Please, Go to the Desert

I went on a day long medicine walk in the high desert. It only occurred to me now, two days later, that I didn't think about politics once during that walk. I didn't think about jobs or how to pay the bills or where I need to be tomorrow or any of the thousand things …

Young Hunter

I usually only see Praying Mantises when they reach their full size in early Autumn here in Michigan, but I happened to spot this young hunter in the front flower garden. ~*~

Relation with a Flower

We share many things, this Dutch Iris and I Both tall and slender, bask in warming weather Country of heritage by name together Blue edged with gold in the iris of my eye ~*~

Vivid Blue Gems in the Grass – Speedwell

First sighting of this vibrant, early spring perennial field flower for 2017.  Commonly called Bird's Eye Speedwell, Persian Speedwell, or Winter Speedwell, Veronica persica flowers are barely large enough to cover a fingertip and thus are easily overlooked.  It originally hails from the Asian continent, and tends to spread more easily by cut stems via …

Joy of Spring Freedom

There are few things as enjoyable as being able to comfortably and casually head outside on a beautiful Spring day after experiencing Winter.  For those of us sensitive to cold temperatures, it was a liberating feeling to wear an open lightweight jacket, rather than a full kit of heavy coat and gloves and so on, …

Spare Umbels – Weekly Photo Challenge: Spare

Although my focus on the day this picture was taken was to capture the lovely spring ephemeral flowers, the spare heads of umbelliferae family plants, most likely Queen Anne's Lace, caught and held my attention for long moments. They looked like the afterimage of fireworks, frozen in time.  I especially like how the dry remnants …