Medication and mental health

(Nimue) I have been taking anti-anxiety meds for about nine months now, so I thought I would share what I have learned. For a while there was a widely held idea that mental health problems were the consequence of faulty brain chemistry. Fix that with meds and the problem goes away. It turns out that humans are far more complex. Our experiences impact on our brain chemistry, so mental health problems often have an environmental source.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/29/medication-and-mental-health/

A sudden seasonal shift

(Nimue) Last week I was wearing jumpers and feeling the cold. Here in the UK, the spring has been a chilly one. This weekend plunged us into a sudden heatwave, and it has been a bit of a system shock. Bodies cope better with slower temperature shifts. Climate chaos means we will be in for more of such weather drama. Living beings cannot adapt to chaos.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/a-sudden-seasonal-shift/

Today in my grove

(David) From my study window, I just saw a bat flying low above the ground of our hillside back garden. I often used to see bats at dusk for the first twenty years after we moved in here. Then my sightings stopped, and this evening is the first time I've seen one in about ten years. That's about how long it is since our rear neighbour up the hill had his great Scots Pine tree halved in height and trimmed savagely to gain sunlight on his new solar roof…

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/23/today-in-my-grove/

How to be your own therapist

(Nimue) Owen O’Kane’s book, How To Be Your Own Therapist, is by far the most helpful self-help book I have ever encountered. I have read a great deal about mental health over the years, and not made much progress. This book brought some really startling insights.  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is all about challenging and changing your problematic thoughts. I have been round this so many times, trying and failing to fix myself.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/20/how-to-be-your-own-therapist/

Druid in the community

(Nimue) When we think about ancient Druids it is obvious that this was a priestly role serving a wider community. The modern Druid community comprises primarily of people who are on the Druid path. This leaves most of us with little scope to serve our community as a Druid. This in turn often means that doing the work of a Druid can take all kinds of odd shapes.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/18/druid-in-the-community/

A sense of self

(Nimue) We get a constant stream of information from our bodies about how we are experiencing the world moment to moment. We have all kinds of senses that tell us about ourselves and our inner states, including things like balance, and where our limbs are in relation to each other. We also experience ourselves emotionally. How we feel in response to experiences forms a key part of who we think we are.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/a-sense-of-self-5/

Pathways to inspiration

(Nimue) Over this last week, I’ve been exploring the idea of doing a workshop on seeking sacred inspiration. This will be in July as part of a bigger event. This has had me thinking a lot about the process of finding inspiration. Like many Druids, I consider inspiration to be sacred and it is an essential part of everything I do.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/13/pathways-to-inspiration/

Singing with ghosts

(Nimue) One of the things I love about the folk tradition, is the sharing and passing on of songs. New songs enter the tradition when people other than the songwriter pick them up and carry them on. This is very different from karaoke, where you are always close to the original material. It is also very different from only doing a cover, although I think those differences would take a lot of explaining, so I am going to set that topic aside for now.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/singing-with-ghosts/

Relationships with the land

(Nimue) Like a lot of Druids, I feel a strong sense of belonging to the land. Alongside this, I find ideas of land ownership highly problematic. Here in the UK, as in so many parts of the world, we are so normalised to our current system of land ownership and use that it does not get the scrutiny it needs.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/relationships-with-the-land/

Finding your own path

(Nimue) It is possible to do religion by following the rules and going through the motions. This can give a person a sense of cultural belonging, but that is all it gives. To get something meaningful you have to engage. No one can do it for you. Even if you are operating inside a strong religious framework, the decision to be spiritual is the decision to follow your own path.

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/05/06/finding-your-own-path/