Ecospirituality

I’m a part of quite a few communities that span my interests. The most important communities to me, beyond my immediate circle of family and friends, are my spiritual communities. I’m a Druid, monk, and shamanic practitioner, and my spirituality is intimately wrapped up in the ecosystem that is the whole planet, which is also called ecospirituality.

Druidry

Modern Druidry is a nature-based path that lives in creativity, connection, and spirituality. As the AODA website states, “We walk a path of nature spirituality and inner transformation founded on personal experience and reconnection with the living earth.” Druidry is non-dogmatic and integrates with many philosophical and religious paths. For me, Druidry is a set of practices and a community that supports connection with self, other beings, and my experience of the sacred.

I’m a member of both the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) (Apprentice grade) and the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD) (Druid grade). In addition, I’m a Committed Monk in the Gnostic Celtic Church Monastery, which is part of AODA.

Contemplative practice

When I came to Druidry it was as a philosophy and way to reconnect with the world. Through my journey I rediscovered a connection with wonder and purpose, and I wanted to explore that further. I have always been drawn to solitude and am a regular meditator. Through the AODA’s church and monastery I was exposed to the purposeful practice of contemplation and decided to join the monastery. This much smaller community within a community has been a joy as learn more about being a contemplative in the world of day-to-day living.

My days as a monk have me setting aside regular time for meditation, journaling, prayer, and reflection.

Shamanic practice

Shamanic practice can take many forms. At its heart it is an animist practice for connecting deeply with the world around and within us. For me, it is a practice for building and maintaining relationships that bind me to the earth and the sacred in everyday life.

Note that the term “shaman” is a bit of a misnomer that is now widely used. It’s a term from a group of people in Siberia and it was popularized by Mircea Eliade’s anthropological writings amongst others, and then through “core shamanism” presented by Michael Harner. Core shamanism distills lots of varied indigenous practices into a homogenized and westernized form. Most modern western shamanic practices are built on core shamanism because there is very little to no information about historical shamanic-like practices from Europe.

My training in shamanic practice is from Jonathan Horwitz, Zara Waldebäck, and Rasmus Ludvigsen from the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies, with Norse seidr training from Shenoah Taylor.