Robin's Woodland Ramblings

Position wanted: outdoor educator, writer, conservationist, sometime farmer seeks job

2009-07-21T21:24:52Z

Well, the economy caught up with me. Spoutwood Farm Center, where I was employed (albeit part-time) as education coordinator, has let me go. Income has simply not been keeping up with expenses there, either. So if you're looking for, or know somewhere that's looking for, a guy who can write well, speak publically and not make a fool of himself, teach a wide range of subjects – especially natural and cultural history, sustainable agriculture, and some outdoor/primitive skills – and who is committed to caring for the Earth as well as all its inhabitants, human and otherwise, please let me know! Many thanks. :-)

Back to the Primitive: One Seeker's Story

2009-07-16T16:24:31Z

Back to the Primitive:

One Seeker’s Story

Tom Harbold

Childhood and Youth

I am a pre-Columbian artifact. That is to say, I grew up in the area of Howard County, Maryland, now occupied by Columbia, but in an older neighborhood: I grew up, not so much in, as surrounded by “the New City” of Columbia, a planned community which is a year or two younger than I am. Therefore, despite living within reasonable walking distance of Columbia Mall and the rest of Town Center, I also grew up surrounded by a lot of remaining forests and farms – now mostly gone, but then a vibrant part of the world in which I grew and learned and developed.

Because my brothers were a lot older than me, with their own friends and occupations, and because I did not share the interests of a lot of the kids around me (bikes, later cars, along with drinking, smoking, and other unhealthy ingestions of chemicals), I spent a lot of time playing in those woods and fields, or else just doing what I would later – under the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien and, later, Wendy and Richard Pini – refer to as “wandering around in the woods like an Elf.”

Needless to say, I created all sorts of mental scenarios – fantasies – to occupy my mind and my time, and switched easily from walking to running to play-fighting: tumbling upon the ground, wrestling imaginary opponents ranging from dinosaurs to rival tribesmen. At other times, I crept quietly along the creek, studying the lives of tadpoles, minnows, and crayfish. I developed a deep connection, even a sense of communion, with the woods I grew up in, spending several hours each day after school, and longer on the weekends, immersed in the forest. That communion was witnessed to by wet and muddy pants and shoes, briar-scratched arms, and a suntanned face. I was tired, dirty, and happy boy, growing up in those woods.

I was also, mostly unconsciously, recapitulating in my own life the lifestyle of a primal, paleo, or primitive – use what term you like – human: lots of walking, interspersed with periods of running, jumping, tree-climbing, lifting, and occasionally “fighting” (though rarely with an actual opponent). And looking back, that was both the happiest and also in many ways (though not all) healthiest time of my life.

I say not in all ways because I was plagued by migraine headaches at that time in my life; there are all sorts of possible reasons for that, but one may have been dietary: I was not eating a paleo diet at that point in my life. My mom was a child of the 1950s and 60s, where housewifery was concerned, and until my father’s heart attacks in 1977 made liberal use of white flour, white sugar, Crisco, and other processed foods – many of which probably contained MSG and God knows that else. Eventually the headaches eased, perhaps as a result of age, perhaps better food, and they are now, thankfully, a rarity. But then they were a frequent bane.

Nonetheless, my “primal” life in the outdoors meant that I was probably as lean and fit as I was at any time other than my brief ROTC days in late high school/early college… maybe even moreso. And although some of it was conscious – I early developed an interest in primitive man, anthropology, and related subject areas – a lot of it was simply subconscious: a natural human being, with TV strictly limited by maternal decree and therefore not as overwhelming an influence as with some people, “doing what comes naturally”… running, jumping, walking, and playing in the outdoors.

Adulthood and Decline

Fast forward to today. At age 43, I am overweight – by a considerable margin – and far too sedentary; I suffer from coronary heart disease, two herniated cervical discs, lower back pain, bad knees, and currently a badly jammed ankle. As one of my favorite cartoons has it, “somewhere, something went badly wrong.”

As I look at myself, spending hours each day sitting in front of the computer, it’s not difficult to figure out what went wrong (ironically, of course, I must sit at my computer to write this essay). The trick is figuring out how to fix it. The obvious answer is to get up and out, to move, to break the pattern of a sedentary lifestyle. But it’s a little more complex than that: how to break it, or to put it another way, with what pattern to replace the sedentary pattern, is the issue. During my stint as an educator at the Carroll County Outdoor School, I was leading two if not three hikes a day, but that was the exception to the rule; when I was working three or more days a week in the field at Spoutwood Farm, I was burning calories, too, but now I’m in an administrative role, even there.

And I am not a “gym rat.” I have tried the gym route several times, and in fact my membership in the local “Y” is still active, but that is not me. I just cannot keep focus and motivation as one of the faceless herd, expending energy on machines that get you nowhere, accomplish nothing of intrinsic, tangible value. If I am going to walk or run or ride a bike (which, by the way, I never learned to do because while the other kids were riding bikes, I was hiking in the forest), I want to go somewhere, see something besides a TV screen or the sweating masses surrounding me. If I am going to lift a weight, I want it to be a rock or a log, preferably/ideally with some practical end in view. And I want it to be fun. Going to the gym is not my idea of fun!

Well, in September of last year – 2008 – I had a myocardial infarction: a heart attack. Thankfully, I realized quickly that something was wrong and got my sorry butt in to the emergency room! As a result, it was nipped in the bud, and my heart muscle itself escaped largely undamaged. However, I now sport two stents in my right coronary artery, and am on four medicines plus aspirin: Plavix, to thin the blood (minimum of a year after the stents were implanted, potentially for life), aspirin as mentioned (ditto), Metoprolol, for high blood pressure, Lisinopril, an ACE inhibitor, and Simvastatin, one of the highly controversial statin drugs, intended to lower cholesterol and combat inflammation leading to heart attacks. Ick. My cardiologist, despite medicating me to the gills, gave me some good advice, which I fully intended – still intend – to heed: looking at my over-weight, under-exercised self, he barked, “You’re a young man. Fix yourself!”

Well, I was a good kid, or as good as it’s in me to be: I really did try to eat a low-fat diet, cutting way back on the breakfast meats which I love so, and even on eggs – even the good, orange-yolked, high in beta carotene and omega-3 eggs I get from my friend Andrea’s free-range chickens; I attended cardiac rehab classes and then transitioned into the YMCA under a post-cardiac rehabilitation program. I lost some weight: not a lot, but some. And I started walking, around my neighborhood, and hiking, mostly at Hashawha Environmental Center – a lot. Still, despite lifting weights 2-3 times a week and doing 30-45 minutes of cardio each day, I could feel myself first plateau-ing and then, distressingly, beginning to come back up in weight.

Then came the day, about a month ago, maybe a bit more, when I was setting out for a hike at Hashawha. An instantaneous bad decision, a half-step, half-leap at a wooden step which turned out to be wet from recent rain… an explosion of pain in my ankle, and I was down and rolling. Thankfully, even in my damaged, disoriented, and out-of-practice state, my old martial arts training did not wholly desert me, and I fell as well as could be expected. But I lay there for a while, flexing various parts of my anatomy, before deciding that I probably could drag myself to my feet and hobble back to my truck. I inherited a good deal of plain old toughness, from both sides of my family.

I am still unclear on whether something actually broke, or whether it was just badly jammed, but it still swells after any significant activity – a long walk, much less a rigorous hike – now, more than a month after the event. And for several weeks it hurt to walk on it at all, especially on uneven ground. Needless to say, my activity level plummeted… and my weight rose. At my regularly-scheduled primary care doctor’s follow-up, he informed me that I had to get my weight down, and he was willing to be “creative” in how we managed that. He recommended a low-carb, low-sugar, high-protein diet, “relying on the statins to get the cholesterol down.”

I’m not too crazy about that last, but I agreed completely that something needed to happen to drop my weight, and I’d sure rather do that in a diet which allows me to eat meat, eggs, and cheese than one where those things are anathema. He declined to give me specific guidance, other than noting somewhat noncommittally that the South Beach diet, which I mentioned, was a “safe” way to go about it. Instead, he gave me the freedom to do my own research. And that was the beginning of what I hope will prove to be a new phase of increasing health and strength in my life!

New Discoveries

The internet is a many-splendored place. Like a great wetland, it can get you mired in the much till it seems like the more you struggle to get free, the deeper you become imbedded. But it can also sometimes-startling, sometimes-wonderful new discoveries. My researches, since being sent on this quest by my doctor, have led me to three closely inter-locking concept-programs that make wonderful intuitive sense to me, given my proclivities from youth up. They are the Primal Blueprint, Exuberant Animal, and barefooting, as exemplified by Walking Mountain.

Getting Primal Once Again

The Primal Blueprint is a lifestyle more than a diet: conceptualized by Mark Sisson, he claims it will “reprogram your genes for effortless wight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy.” I cannot but take that “effortless” with a grain of salt, unless or until proven otherwise, but on the whole, I like the projected outcomes… and more than that, I like the process. After discussing “The Original Primal Blueprint – Rules of Living 10,000 Years Ago” (the “poster child” for the PB is a notional “caveman” named Grok: a word which interestingly enough means “to intuitively graps the essence of something” in the “Martian” of Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land), Sisson goes on to provide a very logical, rational, and extremely holistic/comprehensive “Modern Primal Blueprint – The Rules of Living Today”:

1. Eat lots of animals, insects and plants.

Focus on quality sources of protein (all forms of meat, fowl, fish), lots of colorful vegetables, some select fruits (mostly berries), and healthy fats (nuts, avocados, olive oil). Observe portion control (calorie distribution) week to week more than meal to meal. Eliminate grains, sugars, trans- and hydrogenated fats from your diet.

2. Move around a lot at a slow pace.

Do some form of low level aerobic activity 2-5 hours a week, whether it is walking, hiking, easy bike riding or swimming. Ideally, and when possible, find time to go barefoot or wear as little foot support as possible. Low-level activity is necessary (especially if you find yourself chained to a desk every day). The combined effect will be an increase in capillary perfusion, fat-burning and overall integration of muscle strength and flexibility.

3. Lift heavy things.

Go to the gym and lift weights for 30-45 minutes, 2-3 times a week. Focus on movements that involve the entire body and in wider ranges of motion – not just on isolating body parts. Emulate the movements of our ancestors: jumping, squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, twisting, etc. This will stimulate your genes to increase muscle strength and power, increase bone density, improve insulin sensitivity, stimulate growth hormone secretion, and consume stored body fat.

4. Run really fast every once in a while.

Do some form of intense anaerobic sprint bursts several times a week. This could be as simple as six or eight (or more) short sprints up a hill, on the grass, at the beach… or repeated intense sessions on a bicycle (stationary, road or mountain bike). These short bursts also increase HGH release (HGH is actually released in proportion to the intensity (not the duration) of the exercise).

5. Get lots of sleep.

Get plenty of quality sleep. Our lives are so hectic and full of things to do after the sun goes down that it’s often difficult to get enough sleep. Yet sleep is one of the most important factors in maintaining good health, vibrant energy and a strong immune system.

6. Play.

Spend some time each week involved in active play. In addition to allowing you to apply your fitness to a real-life situation, play helps dissipate some of the negative effects of the chronic stress hormones you’ve been accumulating through the week.

7. Get some sunlight every day.

Contrary to the “Common Wisdom” dispensed by dermatologists (who suggest you shun the sun), the Primal Blueprint would insist that you get some direct sunlight every day. Certainly not so much that you come close to burning, but definitely enough to prompt your body to make the all-important vitamin D and to support the mood-lifting benefits. A slight tan is a good indicator that you have maintained adequate Vitamin D levels. Natural sunlight also has a powerful mood-elevating effect, which can enhance productivity at work and in inter-personal interactions.

8. Avoid trauma.

Eliminate self-destructive behaviors. These concepts are self evident to most people (wear seat belts, don’t smoke or do drugs, don’t dive into shallow water) yet so many of us live our lives oblivious to impending danger. Develop a keen sense of awareness of your surroundings.

9. Avoid poisonous things.

Avoid exposure to chemical toxins in your food (pesticides, herbicides, chemicals, etc) and on your skin. But also try to avoid the hidden poisons in foods like sugars, grains, processed foods, trans and hydrogenated fats, and mercury in certain fish.

10. Use your mind.

Exercise your brain daily as our ancestors did. Be inventive, creative, and aware. If your work is not stimulating (or even if it is), find time to read, write, play an instrument and interact socially.

As with the Original Primal Blueprint, this list is very general, designed simply to allow you to understand that everything our ancestors did can benefit us as well. Except that we can do it having fun, enjoying every aspect of the lifestyle and without worrying about our survival! In future blog posts (and to a much greater extent in my book) I will be going into much more detail as to how and why these behaviors work and exactly what foods to eat, what exercises to do and how to otherwise find ways to allow your genes to recreate you in the healthiest, fittest way possible.

There are some of these that I’m not quite ready for yet… I’m out of practice lifting heavy things, and my injured ankle is not up to sprinting, by foot at least, at this point. But in general, these are simple, common-sense things that anyone can do – and the dietary portion is one that is appealing, that I think I can actually stick with on an extended, hopefully lifetime, basis. As much as I like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and fresh-baked bread, not to mention tortilla chips and mashed potatoes, if there’s one category of foods that I can eliminate from my diet without undue angst, it’s starches. As long as I can have my meat and eggs, I’ll willingly ditch the potatoes, pasta, and bread. And, as I say, this diet is only part of an overall holistic, comprehensive plan for living a good, healthy, and low-stress life.

Return to Exuberance

It was while perusing the forum on “Mark’s Daily Apple” website, the site dedicated to the Primal Blueprint, that I came across a reference to an “Animal Stick,” a rustic aid to exercise consisting of a hand-carved wooden staff with a large rock tied to one end. This deceptively simple tool led me to “Exuberant Animal,” which is what this website, concept, and program suggest that humans by nature are and ought to be. Sporting slogans like “Change your body, change the world,” and “Play as if your life depends on it,” not to mention cool graphics like the one above, Exuberant Animal is the creation of Frank Forencich, and

“is both a philosophy and an organization. As a philosophy, we promote health, positive physicality and physical happiness. As a company, we offer seminars, workshops and training for individuals and organizations. Our training events are suitable for a broad range of individuals and abilities: from beginner-exuberants to body professionals.”

Exuberant Animal also offers “The Antidote: Proven counter-measures to the challenge of the modern world.”

In a age when conventional medical solutions are failing all around us, it’s time for practical action and preventive care. The human body is in a state of crisis. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease and depression are at epidemic levels.

Our bodies evolved over the course of millions of years, much of that time on the semi-wooded grasslands of East Africa. We are well-suited to a life of vigorous movement in natural surroundings. But now, our bodies are challenged by the demands of the modern world: sedentary living, fake foods and chronic stress are taking a tremendous toll.

The Antidote is a set of general principles for healthy living that will increase your vitality, health and exuberance.

Here it is:

That this is immediately and inherently compatible and complementary with the Primal Blueprint is obvious from even a cursory glance! The Primal Blueprint says “Play,” while Exuberant Animal teaches how, with a whole series of games which, the site points out, are

not only fun, they are extremely valuable for building community and physical vitality. These games are highly adjustable and are suitable for a wide range of participants, from children to world-class athletes.

Our games provide a host of fitness benefits that you’d expect to find in a gym; the difference is that they’re fun. These games build muscular strength, endurance and physical intelligence. Not only that, these games are specifically designed to promote core strength and total-body integration. You’ll laugh and sweat your way to improved fitness.

That suits me, I’d far rather laugh and sweat my way to improved fitness as an “exuberant animal” than I would grit my teeth and sweat my way to it, as a human gerbil on a wheel in the gym, mindlessly running like crazy to stay in the same place on a treadmill (ironic how apt are the connotations evoked by that word!) or elliptical. One of the training tools used in Exuberant Animal is, of course, the “Animal Stick” referenced earlier: a primal tool if ever there was one!

Walking Like A Mountain

One of the trainers and spokesmen for Exuberant Animal is Mick Dodge, also known as “the Barefoot Sensei” (sometimes the “Barefoot Bard”). One of the few who truly, and literally, walks his talk, Mick brought his feet – and his soul – back to health through walking and running barefoot. He is currently on a 1,000 mile walk to bring “The Antidote” (printed on cards, but also as a living concept he himself embodies) to people and places throughout the Pacific Northwest. He is also the driving force behind Walking Mountain yoga, a form of yoga immersed in the natural, the outdoors – the Earth.

Walking Mountain offers a movement practice and personal quests that create a powerful connection with the earth and its creatures. The Walking Mountain tribe inspires and supports people to rediscover the wild in themselves; to connect with wild nature; and to bring wisdom back into the community...

This physical practice focuses on the body while exploring, cultivating, and developing the integration of eight sensory roots of touch.

In current cultural society we have been cut off from this tactile stimulation and this affects our story's walking and talking posture. With walking mountain yoga practices, you will ignite your motivation and desire through movement in DANCING WITH THE FIRE, build endurance through breath work with QUESTING WITH THE WIND, develop strength disciplines in order to ground into the core of the body as you EMBRACE INTO STONE. Learning balance, pose, stretching with root and branch postures. Training in tree pose with the trees, mountain pose with the mountain, grounding into the root of alignment with your seven sacred tones or chakras as we BALANCE AS THE FLOW WITHIN. Through strength, disciplines, postures, breath and movement your mind, body, and spirit will integrate into a complete alignment. This practice is fun, it is simple though challenging, it is rewarding, and life changing for those who want to remember their strength and freedom and where it all began.

Walking Mountain yoga uses not only poses – in the outdoors, and barefoot, wherever possible – but also staves (staffs), sturdy ropes or 2” wide strong cotton straps with hand-holds (to enable tree-walking and hanging), and stones as part of their practice, and roots the whole thing in natural walking postures:

•    STEP IN OR STEP ON: Getting a feel for the natural and cultural walking postures
•    DANCE WALKING: Awakening the dance in your walk
•    WALKING THE CHAKRAS: Walking the senses into alignment with the chakras
•    WALKING TO MAKE SENSE - THE QUEST: Rediscovering sensory contact with the land

There are direct implications for me in this concept of barefooting. For one thing, if I had been hiking barefoot – or with barefoot awareness, at the very least – during that fateful hike at Hashawha, I would not now be dealing with a damaged ankle: it would never have occurred to me that I could slam my full 250+ lbs weight down on one foot-heel-ankle, with the added momentum of a downslope added in, and not do damage. That’s avoiding stupidity (or in PB terms, “avoiding trauma”). On a more positive and hopeful note, I have heard that barefooting corrects the postural problems that lead to lower back pain: a recurrent issue of mine. And hopefully it will help to rebuild strength in my ankles, both the recently-damaged right one and the left. Not to mention help me in my constant quest for connection with the Earth herself!

Once again, the connection between and among these disciplines, programs, concepts, and practices is or ought to be self-evident. One challenge is that of the three, two – Exuberant Animal and Walking Mountain – are based in the Pacific Northwest. But they do seem to have practitioners and teachers in other areas of the country, my own included: thanks to the prompt and personal intervention of Frank Forencich himself, I am in contact with two “Exuberants” living in this area, one in Fairfax, Virginia, and the other less than an hour away from me near Baltimore.

But what I like best about these programs is not only that they’re complementary and compatible, but that they’re all primal. That is what my heart is telling me I need to get back to: the ways of my own youth, and the ways of the youth of the human animal, before we were civilized and urbanized to within an inch of our lives, sometimes literally. I need to be not only eating primally, but I need to be out on the Earth with my shoes off, learning to walk again, playing energetically with sticks and stones and cordage straps, letting my body recalibrate, inside and out, to life the way our primal, paleo ancestors lived. The sedentary, indoor, civilized life is killing us – is killing me, and I do not wish to die.

Furthermore, they’re all fun! There’s no grim, do-or-die, no-pain-no-gain, my-way-or-the-highway attitude in any of these. I’m not sure that it’s possible to be primal and remain grim, based on what I’ve come to learn, over the years and decades, about primal peoples. They had, and have, a realistic attitude about life, but despite or perhaps because of that, both Grok and his modern-day descendants also had and have an attitude of joy, of wonder, of playful exuberance. And I’m pretty certain it’s not possible to go barefoot on the Earth and remain grim (as long as you’re careful not to step on too many sharp rocks)… the Earth herself flows her spirit into you, literally from the ground up, and brings happiness and release from stress.

The three inter-related concepts I’ve discussed above are all about living life in health and in joy, and that suits me just fine. I wish to live, and to live exuberantly, primally, and freely on this Earth, in health, in balance, and in joy. So may it be!

Expanding government power is change for the worse

2009-04-27T22:16:07Z

This essay appeared as my weekly column in the Carroll County Times on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009.

The public persona of the Obama administration is to assert that there’s been a change in Washington, as the new President jets around Europe, Turkey, and the Mideast, burnishing America’s tarnished reputation abroad. His actions on the economic front may be debated by pundits and taxpayers from Wall Street to Main Street, but at least no one can claim that he’s sitting by and doing nothing while the economy crumbles. And the capture of Merchant Marine Captain Richard Phillips by pirates and his subsequent rescue by Navy SEALs conveniently provided Obama a chance at a minor but photogenic military victory early in his presidency.

Out of sight of the cameras, though, the new Obama administration has been behaving in a way that makes the Bush administration look like a model of freedom and openness. I am talking about Jewel vs NSA, litigation by the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of what the EFF calls “countless Americans.” Most will remember the furor that was raised when the Bush administration was caught illegally spying on Americans by using the powerful and super-secret NSA to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance.

According to the EFF website, the Obama administration is going beyond anything ever claimed by the Bush White House. Like the Bush team, Obama’s lawyers are arguing that the very case itself represents a risk to national security and should be thrown out. This, the website points out, “is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence.” This, after then-candidate Senator Obama blasted the Bush administration for “invoking a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.” Now that the ball is in Obama’s court, that exactly what he’s doing.

But the Obama legal team is going further yet. The EFF points out that Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) claims that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying – that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes. That is a truly frightening claim. Let me repeat that: the U.S. Government is claiming that it can never be sued for surveillance, even if that surveillance violates federal privacy laws. That is breathtaking in its implications.

Under the Bush administration, the Justice Department claimed that it possessed “sovereign immunity” from suit for electronic surveillance that was illegal under the FISA statutes (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Now the Obama Justice Department has added the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act as statutes which it can effectively ignore at will, with no penalty, using the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act as its justification. Essentially, the EFF points out, the Obama Adminstration has claimed that the government cannot be held accountable for illegal surveillance under any federal statute. That’s another way of saying they cannot be held accountable, period: an arrogant and un-Constitutional assertion that the government is above the law.

I, for one, was counting on President Obama to follow through on the promises made by candidate Obama: to clean up abuses of executive power, to engage in transparent and accountable governance, to reform the PATRIOT Act, to free American citizens from the specter of warrantless (and therefore illegal) surveillance, and in general to reign in the power-hungriness that characterized the Bush White House. That would have been, as the campaign slogan put it, “change we can believe in.” Instead, Obama’s DOJ is making claims for executive power and prestige, under cover of the PATRIOT Act, that even the Bush administration never dared make. This is change for the worse.

Daily Ogham: Thursday, 4/23/09 – An important question

2009-04-23T19:19:02Z

Daily Ogham Question: Should I get back with C____?

Initial reading using "The Voice of the Woods" electronic Ogham reader...

The Past: Gorse

Generosity and persistence

Your work is bearing fruit, and you are reaping its benefits. Remember that generosity is an appropriate response to abundance! Persist in your efforts, too; the blessings you have seen are a result of perseverance, and require continued effort.

Well, I certainly was both generous and persistent with C____, holding on for nearly six months, and giving her all the benefit of the doubt.

The Present: Heather

Dreams and luck

You have dreams for your life, but perhaps are not doing what you can to make them real. See if there are ways you can weave your dreams into your daily life. You are now in, or are about to enter, a time of good fortune; enjoy and benefit from it!

Okay, so does this mean with or without C____?

The Future: Apple

Beauty and eternity

Beauty, vigor and, perhaps, love are in your future. Anticipate the good, and enjoy it when it arrives. Be careful not to scatter your energies, however; while many options may all be good, sometimes one still must choose between them.

Hmmmm, so do I choose the known quantity, C____, with her mix of endearing and aggravating qualities, or hold out for the “beauty, vigor, and perhaps, love” that are in my future?

Clarification: Nuin – Ash

Druidry Handbook: “Connection and transformation; relationship to a larger context; you are part of a wider world; events may be more important than they appear.”

Meaning of the Ogham Staves:
Physical: Your actions echo in the cosmos as a stone thrown in a pool casts rippes. Know you and the word are interconnected. Be aware of the effect of your actions.
Mental: Your problems or questions are not yours alone; others have the same ponderings. Look at the question in the wider context and ask opinions.
Spiritual: Endeavor to become aware that all things are connected. Balance your need with the Earth’s.

Is this trying to tell me to take my friends’ (and probably family’s) viewpoints – which are generally opposed to my relationship with C____ – into account? Or that her views will have an effect on my future actions? Or both?

Clarification #2: Beth – Birch

Druidry Handbook: “Beginnings, new possibilities, potentials; renewal and rebirth; a favorable sign in most matters, though there may be discomforts involved.”

Meaning of the Ogham Staves:
Physical: You must rid yourself of negativity, unhelpful influences and bad thoughts for a new, fresh start.
Mental: Concentrate on your desire, the image of the result wanted must be held firmly in mind.
Spiritual: For a new beginning, focus on the white of the birch, it stands out clearly from distractions and obstructions.

Okay, that finally clarifies it. “Beginnings, new possibilities, potentials”… that doesn’t sound like going backward, that sounds like moving forward. “Renewal and rebirth” could refer to a renewed relationship with C____... but based on past history, I fear more of the same. “A favorable sign… though there may be discomforts involved” must refer to the loneliness, sadness, and frustration I’m undergoing now. I pray there is indeed a new start, renewal and rebirth, at the end of this stage of my life’s journey! And much as I hate to say it, “rid[ding myself] of negativity, unhelpful influences and bad thoughts” does seem like separating myself from C____, who sadly provided plenty of those.

Concentrate on my desire? My desire is to find a young woman who actually shares some or many of my interests, hopes, and dreams; someone with whom I can find compatibility on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Someone who will be a true partner, in every sense of the word; someone for whom my heart sings, who I can love without question or condition, and who loves me the same way. Not much to ask for… *wry smile*

"The Way of the Shaman": Basic Workshop in Core Shamanism

2009-04-20T19:30:28Z

One advantage to not knowing what to expect is that you go in with no preconceptions. That was this case this weekend, as I headed down to the Gaia Healing Center in Mount Airy, Maryland, for “The Way of the Shaman: Basic Workshop,” the 2-day initial and prerequisite class for Michael Harner’s “Core Shamanism” program. The class is subtitled, “Shamanic Journeying, Power, and Healing,” and core shamanism itself is described as “the universal or near-universal principles and practices of shamanism not bound to any specific cultural group or perspective, as originated, researched, and developed by Michael Harner.”

Before I get started on the workshop itself, I suppose I should take a few moments and address some of the issues that come up whenever one begins to discuss the subject of shamanism.

The first has to do with the issue of cultural expropriation: that is to say, of Westerners “stealing” elements indigenous practice, particularly when they are then offering this “native wisdom” for pay. My understanding is that Harner has received the permission of the primal peoples with whom he has worked to share this knowledge. Some of them believe that it’s essential that this information and training gets out to the wider world, which, they believe (with some justification!) needs it desperately. Or, with respect to information garnered from other, earlier scholars such as Mircea Eliade, the information is already “in the public domain,” as it were. The fact that core shamanism emphasizes “universal or near-universal principles and practices” is further insurance against any the cultural expropriation of particular indigenous peoples.

Others would go even further and suggest that since the word “shaman” is from the Tungus tribe (a member of the Finno-Ugric language group, closely related to the Saami, or “Lapplander” peoples, and part of the circumpolar cultural complex), no one who isn’t Tungus should use the word. Well, no one who’s not using Kleenex®-brand tissues should ask for a Kleenex, either, but an awful lot of people do. The fact is that certain words become common parlance because they are useful in getting an idea across. The word “shaman,” and the constructed term “shamanism,” have become such words.

There is a certain “toolbox” of common techniques relating to spirit communication and journeying, trance-induction through drumming, healing and accomplishing other desired purposes through alliance with certain animal and other spirits, and so on, that are “universal or near-universal” among a particular type of primal peoples. These peoples, whether they are Tungus, Saami, Huichol or Amazonian Indians, or whoever it might be, recognize each other’s traditions and techniques as being basically similar in function, even if different in cultural context. A hammer is still a hammer, whether it’s being used by me, or someone in Europe, Africa, or Asia.

Finally, there is the question of who is a shaman. The Harner folks teach that no one in his or her right mind would call him/herself a shaman. Even many indigenous shamans of long practice don’t. The tale was told of one such elder, 93 years of age, who has been practicing shamanism for more than 70 years, addressing the spirits as, “I am not a shaman, I am just a man asking you for help with my friend, here…” That is indicative of a deep and appropriate humility. At most, one may be a shamanic practitioner, or a student of shamanism. The title “shaman” is one to be given, or withheld, by the recipients of one’s efforts. The proof of the pudding is in the eating… the proof of the shaman is in the, shall we say, shamanizing.

These preliminaries out of the way, the next post (or series of posts) will deal with my experiences during the weekend itself.

Recent visits to Hashawha

2009-04-18T01:19:32Z

Recent days – by which I mean, mostly yesterday and today – have finally turned toward the pleasant. After a remarkably raw beginning to April, it finally appears that Spring has sprung after all! Certainly the Spring Peepers think so, trilling vigorously, even vehemently, from their wetland homes on the far side of the parking lot from my condo. I visited them yesterday, and enjoyed the first (careful) bog-slog I've had quite some time.

Later that evening, around sunset, I ventured forth to Hashawha, my old stomping grounds from my Outdoor School days, and both before and after. It's frustrating to me that it's now a half-hour's drive out there, which means it not only takes a good bit of time, but uses a fair amount of gas to get to it, but it's still well worth visiting. Although the understory is beginning to leaf out a bit, the trees are still in bud, and the evening sky through their branches is a study in line-drawing it would take a skilled artist to match, if indeed he or she could.

Gazing westward into the sunset's afterglow, I saw movement on one of those branches in the middle distance, which resolved itself into a squirrel, tail flicking as it worked its way down the branch. Lying back on the wooden bench, I relaxed into the evening, enjoying the night-noises of small furtive creatures scurrying and scuttering about in the leaf-litter and, shortly before dark, a pair of Canada geese honking their way in to a nosiy, splashy touch-down on what I call the Wood-Duck Pond. As the first star appeared through the tracery of branches, I decided it was time to return to my car, and as I hiked back to it, was treated to the squalling bark of a fox off in the distance.

This afternoon I returned to Hashawha, in part to experience some areas of the place I hadn't visited in a while, but also with the specific intention of finding the "grapefruit-sized rock" I am supposed to bring to the shamanic workshop tomorrow. On my way to the area of Bear Branch stream where I hoped to find such a rock, I crossed the boardwalk between the created wetland and (also-created, and rather grandly named) Lake Hashawha. On the way, I enjoyed the croak of bullfrogs – still somewhat half-hearted, or perhaps they're just young frogs, this early in the season – and the liquid, warbling "konk-kereee" of Redwing Blackbirds.

I was particularly excited to see evidence of recent repairs to the beaver lodge nestled against the shoreline: fresh-cut sticks, some with the leaves still on them, others carefully de-barked by the industrious aquatic rodents, and nearby, the sites of those cuttings among the shoreline bushes. I am quite fond of beavers, having had the chance to study them "up close and personal" as both an educator at the Outdoor School (at Hashawha) and naturalist at Piney Run, so I am very glad to see that they're back in the area. I've missed them, these last few years!

Continuing on the section of stream I had planned to visit, I was somewhat startled to find a suitable rock sitting in the middle of the stream, all by itself, as if waiting for me. I am quite serious about this! Here I had come with every expectation of searching long and diligently for the perfect rock, and and here it was presenting itself to me at first glance. In an obscure sort of way, I felt almost let down! But neither was I about to refuse an obvious gift of the spirits... I did, however, decide to carry it about with me as I continued to look – perhaps not as whole-heartedly as I might otherwise have done – for possible alternatives.

Before long, thought, it was quite obvious that this was the one, fitting into my hands quite perfectly and all but vibrating with companionable energy. So, I did a short, impromptu ritual, thanking Mother Earth, Father Sky, the spirits of the stream and woods, and this particular representative of the Stone People its (her?) self for coming to me, and assuring them that I would use the rock respectfully, as a partner in my shamanic journey. I pushed three copper coins (pennies) down into the earth at the foot of a nearby tree as a thank-offering, and then, on impulse, as I cross the stream, paused to shape some of the stream-bank clay into an oval form with eyes and a smiling mouth, and left the manikin-head on a rock above the normal level of the stream: symbolically leaving a representation of myself, as well as a creative offering, at or near the place I had taken the rock.

On the way back across the boardwalk, I paused at the beaver lodge to carefully lift away one of the de-barked sticks, again with apologies and thanks, and left the offering of a coin (a quarter, as I had exhausted my small stock of pennies) in thanks to the beavers. This tooth-marked stick, or part of it, will become the handle of my rattle when I make it, in lieu of the stick included, so that I am putting something of myself and of this place – this segment of Turtle Island, known to its human inhabitants as Carroll County – into that rattle.

As I walked back to my Blazer with my two newest prize possessions, my rock and my stick, I felt a deep sense of peace and serenity, a sense which accompanied me all the way home. Its vestiges remain, even now... I am quite comfortably sure that attending the workshop tomorrow is the right thing to do, and I am very pleased with my preparations: a combination walking meditation and ritual, along with the attention of all my senses – inner and outer – directed to the natural world, to the specific place in which I was "on walkabout," and to the heart of Mother Earth. It was the right thing to do, the right place and time to do it, and I am grateful to, as the Lakota say, "all my relations," and to the Great Mystery of all life, for their presence with me and gifts to me today.

Daily Ogham: Thursday, April 16, 2009

2009-04-16T14:46:49Z

I've decided that for my ordinary daily readings I shall draw a single few as an omen for the day, and guide for the immediate future, reserving the more detailed three-few reading for weekly guidance. Today I drew Ailim, which can represent either Elm or Silver Fir, depending on the interpretation (I should note that the physical few provided by Spirit of Old looks much more like a branch of fir, to me, than a branch of elm).

The Druidry Handbook has this to say about that few:

Ailim (upright): Insight, transformation, expanded awareness; change for the better; the ability to see things in perspective; peak experiences, dreams and visions.

Another table of meanings elaborates as follows:

Ailim/Silver Fir: Fir is a very tall slender tree that grows in mountainous regions on the upper slopes. Fir cones respond to rain by closing and sun by opening. Fir can see over great distance to the far horizon beyond and below. Fir indicates high views and long sights with clear vision of what is beyond and yet to come.
Physical: In this issue you can see what is beyond and what is coming. You have the perception to see and to understand from the point where you stand. Take long view point and foresee the future.
Mental: Receive from the past and present strength and healing from which to draw insight and knowledge for your future.
Spiritual: Be aware of your progress on your spiritual voyage.

At the moment, I have to confess, I do not feel all that far-sighted! But this is an encouraging drawing, nonetheless. I shall strive to make my choices and decisions worthy of that which has been drawn.

Vermont finding right balance with "sexting"

2009-04-15T12:58:01Z

I’m sure everyone by now has heard of “sexting,” in which high school (and sometimes middle school) teens send each other racy or explicit pictures of themselves via cell-phone cameras. Apparently Vermont was considering prosecuting such offenders under child pornography laws, resulting in lifetime listing on the state’s internet sex offender registry. I hope I’m not the only one who finds this an absurdly excessive and draconian response to what is, after all, basically kids fooling around!

Fortunately, legislation newly passed by the Vermont state Senate and pending in the House would remove the most serious legal consequences for teenagers who engage in sexting. 13-to-18-year-olds who engage in sending or receiving such messages would be exempt from prosecution for child pornography, so long as the image transmitted was of the individual him- or herself. However, the bill would not legalize sexting. Offenders would still be liable to prosecution under laws regarding lewd and lascivious conduct, and against disseminating indecent materials to a minor, according to news reports.

I would hope that prosecutors use caution and discretion in leveling even such charges against teens, especially those on the younger end of the spectrum. It’s not that I support sexting, or would like to think of (for example) my 14-year-old niece engaging in the practice! But neither do I think that every activity that I think is unwise or even wrong should be prosecuted under the law. Provided that, as Vermont points out, the images are limited to the individuals in question, this is a personal and moral issue, not a public and legal one. Such issues are better handled by grounding and removal of cell phone privileges than through legal actions.

New Ogham set, first reading with same

2009-04-14T17:33:11Z

Yesterday I received by post a set of Ogham hand-crafted from the woods appropriate to each few (stave) by the lovely folks at Spirit of Old, in the U.K., along with an Awen pendant carved from 3,000-year-old bog oak. Very cool stuff! :-) At any rate, I decided to consecrate the Ogham set this morning, and as I did, a few (ogham stave) fell out of the bag (more on that below), which I took as a sign that it wanted me to do an initial reading right then. So, I did! I used a simple form, with three fews, one each for past, present, and future, as follows, and interpreted them in accordance with the suggestions given in The Druidry Handbook:

1) Past, or what has been: Tinne: Conflict, challenge, struggle against opposing forces; victory against the odds; a change of fortune; decisive action is favored. Note: this few literally fell out of the bag, and struck the coal in my incense burner.

2) Present, or what is: Ruis: Healing, resolution, completion; transitions from one state of being to another; difficulties permanently overcome; an omen of success in most things.

3) Future, or what is to come: Straif, reversed: Pain, retribution, unavoidable suffering; a difficult path that must be taken; every choice leads to unhappiness.

GAH!!! That is not what I wanted to hear, on my first reading, especially as a prediction for the future. Furthermore, it didn't seem to make sense, following the message of the Present, the first part of which seems apt: healing, resolution, completion, transition from one state to another – these are things which make sense in my current situation. And "difficulties permanently overcome" and "an omen of success in most things" certainly seems encouraging! So where, then, did Straif come from, as a hint of the future?

I then drew a fourth few, with the intention of further explicating the message of the third, and drew:

4) Coll: Knowledge, intelligence, talent; transformation and flexibility; the beginning of a new stage in life; communication and teaching; new information.

Okay, that's a bit better. So then, here's how I read this: I stand at a potential crossroads. Much from my past – which has been indeed a time of struggle in many respects – has been resolved and/or is in the process of healing (which is true). However, I stand, as it were, on the knife's edge. Depending on the choices I make, much that has been good could be lost, resulting in pain, suffering, difficulty, and unhappiness. However, if I make use of the fullness of my knowledge, intelligence, and talent, and keep myself flexible and open to the possibility of transformation, I can begin a new stage of life (in which communication and teaching will feature, which again makes sense); I should keep my eyes, ears, and heart open for new information to guide me onto and into this new stage.

What think ye, whomsoever may read this? Is that a reasonable reading? Has anyone anything they might add to it, or change about it?

Daily Ogham Reading

2009-04-11T15:21:27Z

(Which, of course, is far from "daily" for me, although I'm trying to become more regular about it... this one is from Voice of the Woods, as my handmade ogham set from England has not made its way to me yet.)

The Past: Fir

Objectivity

You have seen the situation clearly in the past, although this vision may have been more recently clouded by immediate circumstance. Try to remember both the details of this clear vision, and the way in which you were able to see things objectively; it is usually helpful to blend an objective with a personal view of matters.

The fir is the sixteenth Ogham tree and the first of the fourth grouping, ususally considered to be the vowels. (Some scholars consider this tree to be the elm.) The fir is the tallest native tree, and it grows on hills and mountains, which add to its height. This is why the fir symbolizes objectivity and perspective, a distance that aids one in seeing clearly.

Color:: Pale blue
Animals:: Red Cow
Bird:: Lapwing

The Present: Heather

Dreams and luck

You have dreams for your life, but perhaps are not doing what you can to make them real. See if there are ways you can weave your dreams into your daily life. You are now in, or are about to enter, a time of good fortune; enjoy and benefit from it!

Heather, the eighteenth Ogham tree, has long been considered lucky. Like several others of the Ogham trees, it is low-growing but has woody stems, fitting an ancient definition of a tree. Most varieties of heather are evergreen, and the flowers are symbolic of luck in love. Heather sprigs can be used as a springy bedding, too, and are said to bring good dreams. -This Ogham is sometimes associated with mistletoe as well.

Color:: Purple
Animals:: Bee and Lion
Bird:: Skylark

The Future: Vine

Unlocking

You will find the key to the situation inside yourself. Look within boldly- but cautiously! While you will find truth within, there is a risk of confusion between what you need to do and what you might want to do; use care in making your determination.

The eleventh Ogham tree, and the first of the third grouping, is vine. Since the grapevine is not native to the British Isles, it is possible that this tree was originally associated with bramble, such as blackberry. In any case, "in vino veritas," and vine symbolizes the truth that can be found inside oneself, with bold and uninhibited examination. There is, however, a risk of self-deception or indulgence.

Color:: Variegated
Animal:: Lizard
Bird:: Titmouse

As usual, some good stuff there, that will need some pondering to fully unlock...

New journal for Druidic studies (mine, that is...)

2009-03-17T00:48:15Z

Hi folks,

If anyone is interested in following my Druidic studies – in the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD), Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), and Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF) – in more (indeed, exhaustive) detail, you are welcome to wander over to The Greenwood Grove. Although I will continue to post related posts on here if or as it seems appropriate, that will be the chief repository of my Druidic studies and musings as they apply to the study programs of those respective organizations, and the way that they interact/relate in my own life and spiritual journey.

Yours from the heart of the Greenwood,

Tom

Signs of Spring

2009-03-15T22:21:53Z

It has been raining lightly – somewhere between a mist and a drizzle, with occasional spits of heavier rain – off and on since yesterday afternoon, and more-or-less steadily all day today. The temperature, while far from warm, is at least above freezing, and the light has been growing steadily broader as we approach the Vernal Equinox (Alban Eiler, in the Druid tradition).

The result of that confluence of factors is that today for the first time I noticed that the fields and lawns and road-verges in my area have begun, faintly and hesitantly so far, but begun to show some green amidst the drab yellow-brown of winter dormancy! As I say, it’s just the first hints of Spring green as of yet, but combined with birdsong and bursting buds on the trees, it’s a very hopeful sign.

Spring really is coming. Let the Earth rejoice!

...
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Druidry, Nature, and Ecological Awareness

2009-03-14T04:32:20Z

I have defined another… issue, let’s say… that I have with Ar nDraiocht Fein, perhaps in some ways the major one. I need to preface these remarks by saying that they are intended to be a sympathetic critique, not hostile criticism! And a sympathetic critique from within, at that, as I am member of the organization, and was at one time (albeit briefly) back in the 1990s Chief Liturgist of Cedarlight Grove in Baltimore, Maryland, currently the second-oldest Grove in ADF.

That issue is this: my whole point and purpose in becoming involved with Earth-centered or Nature-oriented religions was… well, to find a spiritual expression of the deep and abiding love and respect I have for Nature and the Earth, and support for my desire to heal and protect her. ADF calls itself an organization of “nature-worshipping polytheists,” there is mention of an Earth Mother in its ritual and cosmology, and Nature Spirits are among the Kindreds offered to in ritual, but ecological concerns do not, let us say, seem to occupy a very central location in its doctrine or praxis.

There is apparently an Ecology SIG and a Nature Guild, but finding them on the website is hardly straightforward, and in fact I am not positive – based on said website – that either one of them is still active. The Dedicant’s Manual goes into considerable detail on cosmology, devotions both public and private, and finding and working with one’s “hearth culture,” and all of these are admirable. I find no fault in any of them. But although there are two books listed, at the tail-end of the Recommended Reading list, on “Nature Awareness,” that subject area is not addressed in the manual. And of those two books, only one – Keeping a Nature Journal – is what I would consider practical, rather than theoretical.

I am not saying that public ritual, private devotion, and cosmology aren’t important; they are. I’m not suggesting that finding one’s most amenable hearth culture isn’t beneficial to an individual’s spiritual journey; it is. But does it seem too much to ask that the basic training of a bunch of self-avowed nature-worshippers and self-confessed children of the Earth Mother would include some attention to the basics of nature awareness, practical ecology/natural history, and environmental responsibility?

As a comparison, the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids promotes both its Sacred Grove Planting Programme (basically a tree-planting program, albeit with a spiritual purpose) and Campaign for Ecological Responsibility quite actively, both on its website (where they are not highlighted, but are at least clearly visible on the frontpage, under the section entitled “The Order”) and in its membership materials. Even more prominent on the website are sections on “Tree Lore,” “Plant Lore,” and “Animal Lore,” which may not exactly be ecology, but certainly point toward attention to the Earth and our fellow-inhabitants thereof.

The Ancient Order of Druids in North America is even more explicit in its ecological and Earth-consciousness. “Ecological awareness and commitment to an earth-honoring lifestyle” and “celebration of the cycles of nature through seasonal ritual” are listed as the first two elements of the triad listed as the “core of its work.” Each of its grades of study – Druid Apprentice, Druid Companion, and Druid Adept – includes an Earth Path of “nature awareness and service to the living Earth.” The year-long study program to be recognized as a Druid Apprentice, equivalent to the Dedicant’s program in ADF, includes regular and focused experience of nature on at least a weekly basis; the reading of at least nine books on natural history, ecology, and the environment, with an emphasis on one’s local area; and making at least three changes in one’s lifestyle “in order to take less from the Earth and give more back.”

Now, I will grant that “your mileage may vary.” Not everyone is looking for such an intensive focus on the living Earth, the natural environment, or however one wishes to look at the matter. But to me, it has always been precisely that “Gaia-centric” focus which has defined Paganism, Earth religions, Nature religion, or however you want to phrase it. From a Christian perspective, I have always asked how people could claim to love the Creator while harming or belittling the Creation. As a follower of an Earth-centered – specifically, Druidic – path, I would ask how one can claim to be a “nature-worshipper” if one does not specifically and intentionally engage with Nature on a regular basis as part of one’s spiritual practice? How can one claim to be a child of the Earth Mother and not make caring for her part of one’s spiritual responsibility?

Again, I am not bashing ADF, a very fine organization for which I have a great deal of both admiration and affection. But perhaps I am challenging it, on some level, to “put its money where its mouth is” when it comes to worshipping nature and venerating the Earth Mother. Otherwise, if one’s chief focus is on the relationship between the gods and the human devotee – and not on the interlocking web of relationships between and among humankind, the world of non-human Nature, and the Divine – it is difficult for me to see how one is better off with Paganism than under monotheism, save for having replaced one God with a committee.

...
/|\

In appreciation of Revival Druidry

2009-03-12T17:48:57Z

Long before I ever thought of myself as walking in the Old Ways or practicing an Earth-centered form of spirituality, and certainly long before I ever heard of existing Druidic Orders, I thought of myself as a Druid.

My influences were literary, musical, and even recreational: scattered references in books of the history of ancient and medieval Europe that I have loved since childhood, similarly scattered references in selections from Jethro Tull’s album Songs from the Woods and, later, Robin Williamson’s A Glint at the Kindling, books of historical fiction and fantasy, and even the role-playing game D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) combined to create in my mind an image of what a Druid must be: a sort of combination of priest, philosopher, and wizard, dedicated to protecting the balance of Nature and also its integrity, and most particularly a guardian of the wild places, especially forests.

As someone whose other great love, besides history, was nature and the out-of-doors, that struck a deep and resonant chord within me. As a child and even as a teen, I spent every available moment (that I wasn’t reading, and some that I was) roaming the fields and forests, especially forests, near my home in Howard County, Maryland, making or treading woodland paths, opening my senses to the life around me, and yes, sometimes even hugging trees. There was one in particular that I learned to think of as the Father Tree, with whom I communed on a regular basis.

I even tried to heal the Earth, in a small way, spreading mulch “liberated” from Columbia Association mulch piles on the bare and compacted earth of the well-trodden path leading from my neighborhood to the parking lot of Merriweather Post Pavilion. And it was with that action, as I recall, that I first seriously thought of myself as a Druid.

Ironically, it was after I had begun to explore Earth-based religions seriously that I began to wander off the Druidic path – that beckoning path to the Heart of the Greenwood that I had followed intuitively, almost instinctively, since childhood. Not that my wanderings were not sources of both learning and enjoyment for me, for they were: always one or the other, and often both.

But I allowed myself to be seduced and beguiled by ideas which, upon further reflection, did not lead me in the direction of the aforementioned Heart of the Greenwood, although they certainly wandered in and out of the forest. Specifically, I allowed myself to be convinced by those who believe that Revival Druidry – that branch of the Druid’s Path that came into being in the latter half of the 17th century, and really took off in the 18th, a living tradition with a more than 300-year history – was somehow not “real” Druidism, because it was not Pagan enough, or because it was based on outmoded or erroneous scholarship, or both.

And it is true that Revival Druidry tends to be open and inclusive, welcoming not only those who make Earth-centered paths their primary or sole spiritual expression, but also Christians, Buddhists, and others who find in it a philosophical and spiritual complement to their primary religious practice. But for someone such as myself, with a broader view of spirituality and religion, that is also one of its charms! It is also true that Druidry of the Revival era has had its share of antiquated, shoddy, or erroneous scholarship, and even experienced outright forgeries portrayed as ancient wisdom. Yet it would be difficult to say which religion – certainly which Earth religion, and even the so-called “Great” religions are not immune from this – has entirely escaped these pitfalls.

Furthermore, one generation’s erroneous scholarship is the next generation’s cutting edge, as our understandings of our ancestors, especially those lost in the mists of prehistory, continue to develop or evolve. To cite perhaps the most famous example, the Druids at Stonehenge: this idea, that the Druids used Stonehenge as a temple, was one of the centerpieces of Revival-era Druidry. However, later scholars dismissed the notion as being romantic and anachronistic: Druidry was a Celtic phenomena, they said, and post-dated Stonehenge by a thousand years or more. Druids therefore could not have used Stonehenge as a temple.

Nonetheless, as I say, one generation’s orthodoxy is the next’s heresy, and vice versa, and nowhere is this more clear than in the study of the past. No less a personage than Ronald Hutton, Professor History at Bristol University in Great Britain and a (sympathetic) debunker of Pagan myth-conception, has recently written that,

“In building their case against modern Druidry, [the archaeologists] Kendrick, Piggott, Atkinson and Daniel all made great play with the fact that ancient Druids could no longer be definitely credited either with building the monument or with officiating within it. They were, however, scrupulous enough to recognise two difficulties. The first is that prehistorians have so far been unable to determine how far continuities of religious tradition and practice did or did not exist through the periods between the Neolithic and the Iron Age. The second is that there is some evidence for activity in and around Stonehenge during the Iron Age itself. It may be that, whether or not modern Druids ever make a significant reappearance at the monument, ancient Druids could yet be fated to do so.' (from the journal British Archaeology, Summer 2005).” (http://www.druidry.org)

Revival-era Druidic Orders, like the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (the largest Druidic Order in the world today, and one in which I am a member, of the Bardic Grade), or the Ancient Order of Druids in America (descended from a British Order that included Winston Churchill in its membership), do not eschew the best of contemporary scholarship (which, when applied to as elusive and nebulous a target as the Druids, is perhaps another word for “educated guesswork”). But neither do they deny or reject three centuries of living tradition, which has naturally grown and evolved over that period of time.

Much as I admire, in many respects, the valiant and dedicated work done by Indo-European reconstructionists like Ar nDraiocht Fein (of which I am also a member), or the various Celtic reconstructionists, I am also leery of the sometimes rigid orthodoxy they can bring to both their reconstructed rites and also their ideas of what being a neo-Druid entails. I do not find Pagan fundamentalists to be any more amenable to my own spiritual viewpoints than I do the Christian variety, and oftentimes the reconstructionist camp strays all too close to that category.

Besides, I am unconvinced that their rites, reverse-engineered from scraps of history, literature, and archaeology, are any more authentic to the paleopagan originals than are Revival rites, and if one is basically creating something anew, why not be honest about it? Whatever the sins of their fathers, in this regard I believe the Revivalists are being more honest, in some ways, than those who strive so mightily to re-create “authentic” rites and patterns of belief.

I do not wish to be too hard on ADF and the Celtic reconstructionists. We are all doing the best we can, within the limits of our capabilities and understandings – and, it must be said, of our interests and worldview, as well. It’s just that I think sometimes those folks are too fixated on a theoretical ideal of what might or could or should have been, while I suspect our ancestors – as are many primal peoples today – may have been far more pragmatic and flexible in their rites and beliefs.

While I can see the benefits of ritually re-creating the cosmos and establishing the Sacred Center, my own interest follows the Mysteries of Earth and Sky, the “windings of the dragon track, which writhes unhewn in sward and marsh and moss and meadowland,” in the words of Robin Williamson; while the reconstructionists insist on a rigid polytheism, and seek a balanced, reciprocal flow of energy between deities and their worshippers, almost like an equation in quantum physics, I, simple soul that I am, join my “most early and unwritten forebears” in “worshipping across the world the music that nests in birdsong, insinuates in river-babble, sings in the soft south wind, and burns in the burning flame,” to quote Williamson again (“Five Denials on Merlin’s Grave”).

My Druidic Path is one that leads, as I have said, into the Heart of the Greenwood, to the magic and mystery of the deep woods… and also to standing stones and dolmens under the sky, to burial mounds and hollow hills, and to the Earth Mysteries “sung along the old straight track,” as Jethro Tull put it. I seek the wisdom of the “calm and cunning wizards” who “raised the hollow hills and the henge stones” (Williamson), and I shall ever endeavor to “Ask the Green Man where he comes from, ask the Cup the fills with red. Ask the old grey standing stones, who show the Sun his way to bed. Question all as to their ways, and learn the secrets that they hold. Walk the lines of Nature’s palm, crossed with silver, and with gold” (Tull, “Cup of Wonder”).

This is likewise the goal of the Revival Druids, along with seeking to heal the Earth of the damage modern techno-industrial civilization has wrought upon her, and to prepare contemporary folk for the end of the era of cheap and plentiful energy which made that civilization possible.

And so, while I will remain in ADF and probably even work through some of its Study Program (the Dedicant Program at least) in due course, my emphasis and my interest now, and into the foreseeable future, is with the older Druid Orders that have come out of the Revival: the OBOD, under the inspired leadership of their Chosen Chief, Philip Carr-Gomm, and the AODA, under the equally inspired and inspiring leadership of their Grand Archdruid, John Michael Greer. The genius of these two men is in synthesis and articulation, finding ways to “update” and express the ancient mysteries for the 21st century without losing their grounding in the past, and in the Earth herself.

It all comes back once again to what I have always believed a Druid to be: not so much the priest of a particular pantheon, but priest of Nature, of the Earth Herself, and along with that, a natural philosopher and hedge-wizard: a seeker of the aforementioned ancient mysteries, and a healer – of the Earth, of people and of human communities, and of the rifts that divide people from one another, from the Earth, and from the Source of all that is. This is what I believe a Druid is, and what I aspire to become… a journey begun at least a quarter-century ago, but really, probably more like four decades ago, and one which continue, I have no doubt, until my life’s ending – and whatever new beginnings lie beyond it.

...
/|\

A spiritually rich and rewarding weekend!

2009-02-24T19:45:30Z

This past weekend was a spiritually rich one for me. On Saturday, I participated in an Inipi, a Lakota sweat-lodge ceremony, with the Standing Bear Community. It was not my first-ever inipi, but it was my first in perhaps about twenty years! Despite some initial difficulties getting past physical sensations (frozen feet followed by various body parts falling asleep, primarily) to the spiritual aspects of it, I found it a very good and powerful experience. And, I think that I received some guidance there that is only becoming apparent and manifesting now, after the fact...

Unlike some, I neither feared nor was I troubled by the heat and closeness of the lodge, nor of its womb-like darkness. Had I not had to step outside briefly at one point, during an interlude between sweats, to relieve myself (there's a downside to being "fully hydrated) I could have remained the entire time. My only problem was at the very end, when some of us went back into the lodge after the conclusion of the ceremony proper to honor some of the "stone people" (heated rocks) that had not been utilized during the main sweat. I didn't get down to the floor of the lodge quite quickly enough during the final explosion of steam, and consequently slightly scalded my scalp and the backs of my hands! But I will know better the next time...

Although the Water-Pourer (ceremony leader) in my lodge -- there were two -- was pretty intense in some ways, he was also pretty laid back in some others, with a good sense of humor, and everyone there was very nice. I never felt the least bit out of place or unwelcomed, nor as best as I can tell did the several other newcomers who were also there. And it was interesting to both learn and observe something about the balance between tradition and pragmatism the (Anglo) ceremony leaders had learned from their Native teachers.

One lesson I learned is that while the Lakota way is a good way and a spiritually powerful one, it is not my way. I had a sense, leaving the ceremony after its completion and a time of socializing afterwards – from the spirits, perhaps? – that while I would always be welcome there, in the sweatlodge or respectfully participating in other such ceremonies, that I am really "supposed" to delve more deeply into my own history, heritage, and traditions. The ways in which I feel most comfortable and at-home are, not surprisingly, those of my own Celtic and Norse-Germanic ancestors, some of which have survived and some of which are being reconstructed and/or recreated (in ways more suited to the 21st century than some of the originals may have been) even now.

With that lesson – reminder, really – fresh in my mind and heart, I was ready for the weekend's second big event, one for which I have been preparing for weeks: the Druidic Imbolc/Brighidmas service I led at the Nature Church in York. I was fortunate enough to have an excellent pre-written service to draw on; after all, this was supposed to be service in the tradition of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, not an exercise in my skill at writing liturgy! All I had to do was "tweak" it in a few places – adding an element here, removing one there, switching the order slightly for yet another – to obtain a service about as perfect for my needs, and those of the Church, as could be imagined.

There were a good number of physical components to the rite, and I ended up purchasing a fair number of items for it. But that's fine, as they were almost all (with the exception of things like candles, milk, and the ingredients for oatcakes) things that can and will be used again. Chief among these is a gorgeous statue of Brighid herself, in her triple aspects as patroness of healing (including midwifery and herbalism), smithcraft, and poetry (inspiration). It was somewhere around this time that I realized that Brighid has... well... adopted me, and become one of my own personal patrons. Healing? Yup, I've done some herbalism and want to learn more, and have had a lot to do with healing since Ma first had her problems all the way back in 2005. Smithcraft? Not so much, yet, but a bit, and again I want to learn and do more. Poetry? Definitely! I am a poet, and have been since at least the 80s. And of course "Bride the Brewer" is one of Brighid's aspects, she who brews the mead of inspiration... and within the last year, I have started brewing, too.

At any rate, Sunday's service was in her honor, and it went, I thought, extremely well. I had asked for four volunteers to help call the Quarters and perform a few other functions in the service, and they performed splendidly. So did a fifth young woman, Katie, who I asked at the last moment to be my "living lecturn," since there was no place on the altar for the book I had the order of ritual in. The service included lighting nineteen candles, honoring 19 roles or aspects of Brighid, as well as the 19 members of her sisterhood at Kildare; a guided meditation or visualization, which went extremely well based on people's comments afterwards; and a "communion" (or "cakes and ale") – in this case oatcakes and fresh, raw milk from a local dairy – during which people shared their experiences in the meditation, and Dick Huntington read an original poem to Brighid. Overall, it was a very successful service, based off of my own "gut" sense and, more importantly, people's comments to me afterwards.

It was during and after that service that I was strongly reminded of the difference between a job – no matter how much one likes one's work – and a true vocation, which is as one wise person put it "the point at which the need of the world and the desire of one's heart come together." After the service I went down to Spoutwood to lead/facilitate a meeting of the Education Committee, which I convened (and recruited for) to share responsibility for the education program there (Sustainable Living Institute), and to work on ways of making it more sustainable – including being able to pay the education coordinator, namely me, a full-time living wage. It was a good meeting, producting, amenable, and all the rest. But leading that service to Brighid in and with and for the Nature Church – helping people to come into closer communion with the Divine, however that reality speaks to them – that's what I live for. It's just sad that there doesn't seem to be a way to make that vocation into something I can live on...

So, one lesson which I took from both of the major spiritual experiences of this past weekend – the Lakota Inipi and the OBOD Rite to Brighid – is that I am being called to engage more deeply with my own ancestral traditions, and specifically Druidic and related traditions involving my Celtic (and perhaps also Norse-Germanic) roots. To mark the beginning of this process, I used a service called "The Voice of the Woods," to undertake a "virtual" (but still significant) ogham drawing for this day – ogham being the magical and symbolic alphabet of the Celts, used among other things for divination, much as the runes were by the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons:

The Past:
Vine

Unlocking

A key to the situation's past was within; it is not altogether a result of external circumstance. Look back with this in mind, and be resolute. Guard yourself against being misled by inaccurate memories, or a desire to believe something that may not be entirely true.

Color: Variegated
Animal: Lizard
Bird: Titmouse

The Present:
Alder

A strong foundation

Your strong convictions and moral courage will help you in the current situation. Behaving with honor, even when difficult, will lead to the best results.

Alder is the third tree of the Ogham. Resistant to rot, it was used for the foundations of bridges and buildings in wetlands. Alder symbolizes moral strength and courage, and honorable actions.

Color: Crimson
Animals: Red Fox, Ram, Stallion
Bird: Seagull

The Future:
Heather

Dreams and luck

You have dreams, and the time to act on them is coming. It would be wise to be prepared when that happens! This will also be a time of good luck and fortune, from which you can benefit greatly, particularly if you are ready for it!

Color: Purple
Animals: Bee and Lion
Bird: Skylark

Hmmmmm.... elements of both mystery/challenge and promise, with a solid rooting in the present. Sounds like a fairly auspicious first drawing, on this new phase of my life's journey, as I embark on what I hope will be a much more focused and intentional engagement with Druidic spirituality, both OBOD and ADF, and with ancestral traditions in general...

Adventures in shamanic craft: Drummaking, part 3 (final)

2009-02-03T13:52:09Z

Sunday morning dawned clear, crisp, and sunny, and my spirits matched it. In fact, I was up before the dawn, as my plans included attending my old Episcopal church, Church of the Ascension, Westminster, before heading up to Nature Church in York for their Candlemas/Imbolc service. I had gotten up in the night, for the usual reasons, and slipped in to the other room to give my new drum a few more exploratory taps, and been excited by the resonance... now, I would have the chance to try it out for real.

What can I say except that the experience far surpassed the anticipation? I had feared that perhaps I might not have pulled the lacings tight enough, and the drum would end up sounding flabby and dull... nothing could be further from the truth. The skin is taut and tight, in fact the extremely dry conditions at present have shown me where my lacing must have been a bit uneven, as the hoop has been pulled ever so slightly out of true. But the thick moosehide is indeed "tight as a drum," and the slightest tap awakens resonances, while a firm strike with either of my beaters booms out with authority! This will be a superb drum for both shamanic practice, its primary purpose, and also drumming in community, its secondary raison d'etre. I do not know how I could possibly be more pleased!

The spirits of Moose and Wolf continue to pulsate strongly in their respective tools, the drum and beater, and beating the drum with the Wolf beater seems to evoke particularly strong resonances from it. As I stroked the beater against the drumskin, almost an intimate caress, I reflected that in the wild, Wolf and Moose would never be in such close contact except in the mortal struggle of life and death. Yet here and now, in my hands, they dance together to invoke Spirit, to bring healing, and the dance of predator and prey is expressive of the Balance, the Yin-Yang energy of universal harmony and the dynamic interplay of seeming opposites which sustains the universe.

Later that afternoon and evening, I took the drum and its beaters with me to Chambersburg, PA, where with a circle of friends I once again celebrated Candlemas, more anciently Imbolc or the feast of Brigid, the goddess-turned-saint who is patroness not only of Ireland, but of poetry, smithcraft, and healing: the arts of transformation. An appropriate day on which to dedicate and bless, through sacred use, a drum whose purpose is healing and transformation, and at times, the accompaniment of poetry – including a piece I wrote to the honor of Brigid. The drum was received with pleasure and, by some, something approaching reverential awe, by my fellow-celebrants, and it tooks its place in the circle, incorporated into the celebration. A splendid initiation for our partnership in community!

It was as I arrived home afterwards that disaster nearly occured: I had gotten out of my Blazer to head up to my condo, when I suddenly stepped onto a patch of black ice. Before I could react, my feet slipped out from under me, and I was down on my knees... and my drum on its face on the pavement. The pain in my body was nothing compared to my concern for my drum – knees can heal, but my first drum is irreplaceable! Inspecting it once I was safely inside, I realized that it had indeed received a few scuffs... but the tough, thick moose rawhide had held, and no serious damage was done.

Morever, by absorbing a portion of the impact, my drum may indeed have saved me from more severe physical injury! The approximate size and shape of a Celtic targe shield, my drum had served as not just a spiritual but a physical shield as well, protecting me in my fall. To say that I am once again humbled and deeply, deeply grateful is to risk serious understatement. I thanked the spirit of the Drum and of Moose with deepest gratitude as I softly drummed my appreciation. It is within reach of me as I type this final account of its shaping, and in fact I find that I do not like to be too far from it! I am grateful to Steven Kauder for making this opportunity possible, to craft such a tool and partner, and to the Spirits of Moose and Wolf for choosing me, or allowing me to choose them, as the case may be.

I am content. Indeed, I am far more than content. I am joyful!

All my relations.

Adventures in shamanic craft: Drummaking, part 2

2009-02-01T05:47:56Z

At this writing, my completed drum is drying in the other room, and indeed, seems to be drying nicely. I took a few exploratory "thumps," just to see, but am resolutely refraining from trying it out seriously until tomorrow, when it should be completely dry. I am quite excited at what seems to have been a successful first venture!

Due to events beyond my control, the raw moosehide of the drumskin and lacing ended up soaking for more than 24 hours, although not much more. I don't think that hurt them a bit; in fact, I think it make them easier to work with. But I would not do that in warmer weather, for fear of the onset of decomposition. As it was, it worked out just fine. At any rate, I knew I did not want to leave them soaking any longer, and that meant that this morning, prior to the several meetings scheduled for Spoutwood during the day, was going to be my window of opportunity.

I took the preparations, both practical and spiritual, seriously, and took the time to do a good job. I made sure my tools were gathered, both those necessary to build the drum, and those of a more mystical nature. I moved my personal altar – fortunately quite portable – from my bedroom to the room I was using as my workroom (the theoretical master bedroom, which has a decent amount of open floorspace and is out of the usual "traffic pattern") and moved several other objects of significance in there as well. This included my rack of mule deer antlers, which has been with me for more than twenty years, and my Celtic torc, which I hung over my working area in the configuration of a blacksmith's horseshoe, the open end pointed down to allow "luck" and energy to flow into the working area. Since this is a moosehide drum, that also included all I could find of my small but significant collection of moose-related artifacts, figurines, etc.

Once everything was ready, I called the Quarters (Directions/Elements) in a Native American fashion (East = Eagle/Air, South = Coyote/Water, West = Bear/Fire, and North = Buffalo/Earth) plus Mother Earth (below) and Father Sky (above), along with the Great Mystery (God/dess/Spirit) which permeates and suffuses, yet transcends, all things, offering smoke from a white sage smudge stick along with the invocations. I had sage/cedar/sweetgrass incense burning, and on my CD player in the next room, a shamanic drumming CD the drummaker, Steven Kauder, had kindly included in the kit. The beat of the drum accompanied me throughout the process of creating the drum (I had been playing the "O Great Spirit" chant while gathering my tools, etc., earlier).

Then I proceeded to follow the instructions provided with the kit and available on Steven Kauder's website. It's really not a difficult process, provided that one pays a reasonable degree of attention, but is also a bit more of a workout than one might think! Here are pictures of several stages of the process, the initial lacing (underside of the drum), handle construction (underside also), drumskin side showing the cloth and rope wrapping around the hoop to hold down the rawhide (the rope was my addition to the kit, as the cloth didn't seem to be quite doing the job), and finally completed, showing both the natural wolfskin beater and the artificial fur "everyday" beater Steven kindly included.

Please excuse the quality (or lack thereof) in these photographs! They were taken offhand, with a camera phone. But hopefully they will suffice to give you an idea of both the process and the finished drum.

Following the completion of the construction process, I thanked the Guardians and Great Spirit and released the circle, and by that time I had to hustle to clean up and get to Spoutwood for my meetings. But I did not in any way rush the process itself, giving due honor, respect, and reverence to the spirit of Moose and those benevolent Powers that assisted in the process. In an e-mail to me, Steven added these pointers for the final stage of the construction:

Meeting and honoring the spirits of animals of your drum and rattle is your goal... When you have made your drum and rattle, use them to give thanks. Drum, rattle, dance.

Did I say "dance"? Movement is a great way to give thanks and to meet your helping spirits of your drum and rattle.

I look forward to this part of the process, once my drum is sufficiently dry, and again when I have made my rattle. But even before receiving the kits in the mail, I had a powerful sense of encounter with the spirits of Moose, Elk, and Wolf, while walking outside after dark one night. I was acutely aware of these powerful yet gentle animal spirits walking with me, and communicating to me – though without words – a sense of welcome and partnership, as if they were glad that I had chosen them to be my helpers. It was and is a humbling and gratifying experience. And I have already recounted the powerful feeling of connection I felt to both Moose and Wolf when I first opened my drum kit.

And so, as my energy for today draws to a close, so does this account of my first experience in shamanic (or any) drummaking. I will continue to post updates, if or as appropriate, as I begin to actually use my new drum, and of course of the process of making my rattle. But if the drum sounds and feels as good tomorrow as it seems to be shaping up tonight, I will be happy indeed!

My thanks to the animal spirits involved, to the Guardian spirits, and especially to Great Spirit, and to All My Relations on this Earth we share!

Adventures in shamanic craft: Drummaking, part 1

2009-01-30T01:48:16Z

A few weeks ago, I began to realize that I was being called to incorporate more of what for lack of better terminology I will call primal, tribal, and/or "shamanic" elements into my personal spiritual practice. There were and are several reasons for that: to increase my sense of connection with the Earth, with the ancestors, and with the plight of contemporary primal peoples, whose way of life is being threatened by our mis-use of the Earth, of Creation.

Originally, the steps taken were fairly mild and perhaps even a bit superficial: replacing the woven cloth on my personal altar with the deerskin I had braintanned several years ago; replacing commercially-made objects or colored candles as representations of the directions and their associated elements on that altar with natural or hand-made objects – an abalone shell for South and Water, a cluster of amethyst crystals for North and Earth, a feather and a hand-made wand for East and Air, and a replica of a Roman oil lamp (made, but to an ancient form) for South and Fire – and the addition of smudging, the use of sage, cedar, and sweetgrass, for purification.

But my increasing interest in both Celtic and "Core" Shamanism, both interests I've had for many years but now coming to the forefront of my awareness, has led me to look into obtaining two of the most ancient and classic tools of the shaman's art, the hoop-drum and rattle. After looking at several sites, I settled on Steven Kauer's Beardrum Shamanic Art website.

But as good as his products looked, I realized that I wanted... needed... was being called to accomplish something more. It was not enough that I buy a drum and rattle... I needed to make them. I needed to join my own energy with that of the animal, join something of my spirit with its own. Fortunately, Steven sells kits, and he is furthermore very helpful and responsive in working with one and supporting one's interest in making these most ancient sacred tools. The upshot is that, after some missteps with PayPal and which address to send it to, I am now the recipient of a moosehide drum kit (the standard ones are elk, but he was quite willing to send me a moose one), with natural wolf-skin beater (representing the symbiotic relationship between those two species in my beloved North Woods) and an elk-skin rattle kit.

The kits arrive yesterday, but due to work-related obligations, I was unable to do anything with them then. Tonight, however, I have begun the process by putting the raw moosehide (moose rawhide?) in to soak in a tub of spring water I collected (fortunately this spring was not too ice-encrusted) this afternoon. I had decided that I did not wish to dishonor the moosehide by using tap water! I accompanied the "dunking ceremony" with smudging of the hide with sage, and the playing of the "O Great Spirit" chant on CD. Moosehide is thick stuff, and according to the information on Steven's site, it may take 16 hours before the hide is ready to be stretched over the drum-hoop.

Before ever beginning the process, however, I spent some time today communing with the hide, and with the wolfskin beater. That was a particular shock, of a not-unpleasant kind: as soon as I touched it, I felt a connection with the spirit of the wolf, or perhap the spirit of Wolf. Feeling the coarse, yet soft fur against my cheek, inhaling the slightly cinnamon-y scent of it, was a thrilling moment of communion with the essence of Wolf-ness. And a similar effect occured as I rubbed the dry, slightly rough raw moosehide against my cheek and stroked my hands across it: this was not just a chunk of leather; Moose was and is there, in a very real and present sense! I am at once exhilarated and humbled at the thought of working with these creatures, both physically and spiritually. Steven says,

I make drums and rattles with respect for the animals and trees who have given their gifts.
I only use the "leavings" -- no animal was killed just for its hide. From each hide,
I cut drumskins, rattle heads and finally drum lacing; nothing is wasted.
I make my drums and rattles with prayer and ceremony.

I believe this, and I believe he treats his kits with no less respect and reverence, having now had the opportunity to experience one of them for myself. I can say that rarely if ever have I experienced such a strong spiritual connection to something not currently "living," as we ordinarily understand the term, with reference to the physical/sensory world with which we are most familiar. That this drum kit is alive, spiritually, embodying the energy and qualities of Moose and Wolf, I have no doubt, now. None at all. I am truly excited to have begun this process, and I look forward to its continuance. About which, I shall continue to post!

Blessing to all who have read this far, blessings of health and peace and joy.

Namaste. Thou art God/dess. All my relations.

Spoutwood honored at Ag Recognition Banquet

2009-01-29T15:35:11Z

Hi folks,

Just wanted to take a few moments to share the fact that Spoutwood Farm, beloved by many of us on my friends list, was honored last night at the 23rd annual York County Agricultural Recognition Banquet, put on by the York County Agriculture Business Council.

Spoutwood Farm Center, Inc., was honored as sole recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Agriculture Industry Award! In a field still dominated by large, conventional (high-input, high-chemical) farms - even those still run by a single family - to have an organic, community-supported agriculture and education farm to be so recognized is pretty significant.

In fact, the keynote speaker made frequent and unsolicited references to Spoutwood and the model it embodies as being an important part of the "wave of the future," agriculturally, and the fact that the York Co. Ag. Business Council has chsen to get behind the Buy Fresh, Buy Local movement was further vindication to our Spoutwood way of doing things.

Rob, Lucy and I will be attending the PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) annual Conference next weekend, garnering new ideas, new inspiration, and new contacts to make Spoutwood's operation even better in the year ahead. And we have fresh new apprentices coming onboard, with their own new set of skills and new ideas. I'm confident that 2009 will be for Spoutwood and its supporters what every year I've worked there (since 2005) has been: our best year ever!

P.S. If you live in about a 25-mile radius of Glen Rock, PA, and would like to get a bag of fresh, delicious, certified naturally-grown vegetables every week, by subscription, please see our CSA page, or contact Rob, and get the satisfaction of knowing you're doing good by eating well.

"Westerners Welcome Harems"

2008-12-06T04:03:15Z

The title might be a slight overstatement, but there's no question that the Western understanding of marriage is changing, and it's not just about same-sex unions...

Westerners Welcome Harems

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Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

2008-12-03T18:36:18Z

A dear friend of mine sent this to me by e-mail, and although I've read it before (although not, I think, all at once), it was too good not to pass on:

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

It's by Wendell Berry, who if you don't know him is well worth becoming acquainted with (or at least his writings). If you do know of him, you don't need me to sing his praises!

Vive le revolution!

Holiday celebration at the Horn Farm: December 12th

2008-12-02T21:25:16Z

The Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education, in York, PA, announces a holiday celebration:

Join the Horn Farm Center for an evening of education and cheer as we celebrate the season with Holidays at the Farm on Friday, December 12th from 6:00-8:00 pm. The event will explore what the holidays were like in the 19th century and feature a bonfire with storytelling and a historical overview of the certain holiday traditions. Children can help to create ornaments that will feed an array of wild animals when they are hung on the Horn Farm Center’s very first Christmas tree. Traditional carols will be sung while guest enjoy hot chocolate, mulled cider and cookies. Next we’ll bundle up for wagon rides around the farm. On the rides, local Girl Scouts will lead modern day carols that are sure to appeal to all ages.

Admission is just $5 per adult and $2 for children 4-12. Help us end what has been an absolutely fantastic inaugural year for the Horn Farm Center by joining us on Dec 12th for some good old fashion holiday fun at the Horn Farm. As always, you can check our website for more details.

We once again ask your help in promoting this event. Kindly pass this email on to all those you feel would enjoy an event like this. We would also greatly appreciate it if you could print out the attached flyer and postcards and post them at any public location and distribute the postcards anywhere and everywhere! The Holidays at the Farm event is definitely a great chance for the whole family to enjoy the Victorian style celebration! Help us spread the word to families and organizations that involve children. With being a brand new organization, our marketing funds are very limited. Any assistance you can give us with the promoting this event would be tremendously helpful. So spread the word!!

Many thanks and we look forward to welcoming everyone to the Horn Farm on Dec 12th for this holiday celebration.

Horn Farm Special Events & Marketing committees

Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education
4945 Horn Road
York, PA 17406
phone: (717)757-6441
email: info@hornfarmcenter.org
www.hornfarmcenter.org

"No one can do everything, but everyone can do something!"

Too fun not to post... steam-powered motorcycle!

2008-12-01T03:01:00Z

Transition, again

2008-11-18T01:37:42Z

Okay, as has been well-established by personal history, I do not "do" transitions well. However, they keep happening anyway. Is that, maybe, what the Universe is trying to get through to me? To let go, relax, and let them happen, without worrying and fretting so much? Maybe... if so, then perhaps I'm finally getting a glimmer. But at any rate, here I am smack dab in the middle of another one.

As some of you may know, I have just been cut back to half hours at Spoutwood. That's half of 30, mind you, not half of 40. And I was just about managing to make do on the 30... not with a lot of fat in the budget, to put it mildly! But making do. Now I am in a situation where I am not going to be able to remotely make do on my current paycheck. And that raises a host of questions, to which I do not currently have answers. I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post that on Samhain I drew a rune, Perthuz, that indicates chance, risk, but also birthing and beginning. Yesterday at Nature Church, the card that was drawn for me (from an oracle deck I am not really familiar with) was Lughnassad, which the person doing the reading interpreted as "Transition." Duh! You don't think...? *wry smile*

I have already re-made myself from would-be Army officer (Infantry, no less!) to medieval scholar, and from there to naturalist and outdoor educator, and from there to sustainability educator and farmer. What new role, what new incarnation, awaits this wandering rogue, this Green Man and servant of the Lord and Lady? Healer and priest? Ah, now that kicks up resonances! But how, then, to make ends meet? Or is that the lesson of this latest transition: to learn to step out in faith, to let go and trust in the benevolence of the Universe? If so, O Ancient and Holy Ones, grant me the courage to make that leap... and please don't fail to catch me!

Controversial Questions (meme)

2008-09-25T17:17:43Z

</a>Some interesting and thought-provoking questions here... I doubt any of my responses will come as a complete surprise to anyone who knows me well, but for what it's worth, here they are:

Would you do meth if it was legalized?
Absolutely not. I don't do any drugs except occasional ethanol (unless you count my morning cup of coffee), why would I do one of the most dangerous, lethal, and overall nasty ones out there?

Abortion: for or against?
Neither. Acceptable, if not ideal, if performed within the first trimester, and/or in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Should never be used (intentionally) as a form of birth control; in the case of someone whose regular birth control has failed, I leave that up to the conscience of the individual. But overall, I agree with former President Clinton, who said that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare": Safe, to protect the life and health of the mother. Legal, because that's the only way to keep it safe. Rare, because it should always be the choice of last resort.

Would our country fall with a woman president?
Depends on the woman! The country will stand or fall based on the person in the office, not their gender (in this context, it's worth noting that Britain's high points, historically, were in the reigns of Queens: Elizabeth I and Victoria). But I'm not expecting it to fall any time soon, regardless of who's in office... current economic troubles notwithstanding.

Do you believe in the death penalty?
I believe that death is an appropriate penalty for certain heinous crimes, or perhaps repeat offenders: if nothing else, it eliminates recidivism. It also relieves the burden on taxpayers to spend $30-50K/year to keep violent criminals behind bars! In general, I tend to favor the approach of the character in a book I once read, who referred to it as a "sanitation measure," like culling diseased animals from the herd.

Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
I don't wish it, but I think it's probably doing more harm than good that it's not. Marijuana is no more dangerous or "evil" than alcohol; abuse of either is a major problem, but keeping it illegal (and therefore unregulated) may be making the problem worse.

Do you believe in God?
Yes, I do. However, I also believe that the Divine Reality is "bigger," in every sense, than any merely human attempt to define or express it.

Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
I am increasingly of the opinion that the State (e.g., government on all levels) should get out of the marriage business. Marriage should be a strictly religious affair, conducted according to the dictates of one's conscience and the doctrines of one's faith. Consenting adults should be free to enter into whatever form of contractual relationship they want, as regards benefit-sharing and other legal aspects now subsumed under marriage.

Do you think its wrong that so many Hispanics are moving to the USA?
I think it is wrong that so many illegal immigrants are moving into the United States, regardless of their ethnicity or country of origin. I also think it's wrong that our economic system, especially in the border states, rewards this. In general, I think we would be wiser to control immigration -- both illegal and legal -- more stringently, as in fact we did up until about 1964 or so. Overpopulation is putting a severe strain on our resources, and the vast majority of our population growth currently is a direct result of immigration. So immigration is not only a social, but also an ecological issue.

A 12 year old girl has a baby..should she keep it?
Depends on the support system she has available from her family. No 12 year old has the ability to raise a child on her own, but if she enjoys the support of parents, grandparents, etc., and all are agree... why not?

The alcohol age be lowered to 18?
Absolutely! It is ridiculous, absurd, and a travesty that a person can drive a car at 16, vote in elections, be held legally responsible in almost all respects, and join the military to die or kill for his or her country at 18, but can't legally have a drink until 21.

Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Ummmm... hate to break it to anyone, but you can't just "call off" a war. Well, I suppose you could in theory, if you wanted to leave behind a vaccuum almost guaranteed to turn into a failed state. The question of whether the Iraq war should ever have happened, or at least happened in the way that it did, is one thing, but a unilateral bail-out would be an awful idea. That said, however, we should definitely be exploring ways to draw down our troops and turn the country back over to the Iraqis as soon as possible. As, in fact, we are doing...

Assisted suicide is illegal..do you agree?
I do not. I'm not even convinced that suicide is a morally acceptable choice; assisting in it is murder, or at least accessory/accomplice to murder: you are helping someone to take a life. Having said that, I am sympathetic to those who feel that they have no other choice than to take their own lives; I may believe that they do (have other choices), but I am not inside their head or their heart.

Do you believe in spanking your children?
I don't have any to spank! But if I did, I would say that corporal punishment is not only acceptable, but called for in certain circumstances, especially in the case of children too young to reason with: it demonstrates that actions have consequences, it focuses the attention, and it provides negative incentive. However, it should not be over-used, and as children grow to the age of reason, it should be supplemented with and eventually replaced by other negative consequences (loss of privileges, etc.).

Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
No, I would not. I pledge allegiance "to the flag... and to the Republic for which it stands." To desecrate the flag is to assault the Republic for whcih it stands. That's me, however. I do not believe there should be an anti-flag-burning Amendment to the Constitution, or even laws prohibiting it: it is protected public speech, however abhorrent. And I do not believe people should be punished for merely expressing their views (I am opposed to so-called anti-"hate speech" laws for the same reason).

A mother is declared innocent after murdering her 5 children in a temporary insanity case...what do you think?
I think that would be a complete and utter travesty of justice... unless she is also remanded to a psychiatric hospital for the rest of her life. I would think that anyone who killed an innocent victim for any reason was by definition at least temporarily insane, but I do not believe they should therefore escape the consequences of that action.

It's between you and a person who is being kept alive by life support machines..one has to die? Who?
I refuse to make that choice. I would certainly prefer to live, and I am inclined to think that I might have more to offer to the world than someone who is tethered to life by life-support... but I would not, I hope, choose my own life by killing someone else who was not trying to kill me.

Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answer?
I suppose it's quite likely... but I also suspect that most people who are my friends would not be surprised by most of these answers, and if they are my friends, would tolerate such differences as may exist.