Approaching August – Lammas and Lughnasadh
The year has ripened, come to its zenith and now arrives the harvesting season. The native Americans called the first part of August the Ripening Time and then, as it …
Discover your own earth energy connection
How does the energy of a stone differ from that of a piece of wood? What does the river say as it flows past? Where are the secret shrines of …
Taming our ancestors
When friends wax lyrical about their family trees, I have always kept quiet, very quiet. My ancestors, sadly, were not a nice bunch of people. So I felt slightly anxious …
Holotropic breathwork – making the psyche whole
I’m lying on a padded mattress, surrounded by cushions and I’m breathing fast. The music is loud, deep, rhythmic, insistent. My body starts to curl and I have the strangest …
Wild Swimming
I’m not one of life’s natural swimmers – you won’t find me ploughing up and down the local swimming pool – but I can’t resist a spot of wild swimming. …
Stargazing – finding perspective
I’m truly blessed to live on Exmoor. It’s been designated the first International ‘Dark Sky Reserve’ in Europe and, come nightfall, the universe puts on a spectacular display. There really …
Beltane – the wild and wonderful festival of May
The lessons of May are about freedom, about energy and about determination. It’s a dynamic time – not just of growth but of destruction too. As Shan, pagan priestess and …
Sometimes a Wild God
Sometimes you’re just browsing through Twitter, through the timeline of a friend. Just browsing, killing time, not really looking for anything much at all. Just watching the moments as the …
Who were you as a child?
Who were you as a child? Who were you before you learned to behave in ways that your family, your teachers, your peers, society deemed ‘correct’? What were your passions …
The Hedgerow Handbook by Adele Nozedar
Adele Nozedar is a bit of a legend. I first met her in London, way back when I was working on the Evening Standard, pretending to be a music journalist while she …
Dream healing – a Greek pilgrimage
Several years back I went to The Spirit of Life Centre, based on the Peloponnese in mainland Greece. They do a ton of yoga retreats and walking holidays, and ‘just …
The Natural Year: the energy of spring
There were primroses along the banks as I walked up into the woods this morning. The wild garlic was shooting up and a haze of green was shimmering over the …
Eco-literature for teens? Can books help save the planet?
I wrote my teen novel, Walker, several years ago. It’s the story of a boy who dies and who comes back to life as a shaman, a walker between worlds. It’s aimed …
On Blackden – Alan Garner, myth & magic
There are places that touch the soul so deeply it hurts. It’s like standing at the front of a ferry breathing into the wind, loving the exhilaration yet gasping for …