| Steampunk | Hopeless Maine |
| Druid | Nature |
| Author | fiction |
| Queer | complicated |
Language and identity
(Nimue) Most of us learn some kind of communication so early in life that we do not remember what it was like to be without language. As babies, our minds are hard-wired to learn how to communicate, and we start learning from arrival. Those of us who can, acquire languages in a multi-sensory way, reading and listening, speaking and writing. Our human languages are a mesh of sound, symbol and concepts.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/20/language-and-identity/
Challenge and recovery
(Nimue) The last twelve months have been incredibly hard. As a consequence of going blind, I have been through three operations under anaesthetic and one under sedation. There were three rounds of laser treatment, and all told, at least twenty other hospital appointments. That alone would have been gruelling enough. Unfortunately I was obliged at the same time to deal with a needlessly unpleasant divorce.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/challenge-and-recovery/
An orchestra of birds
(Nimue) I have always been alert to birdsong. Up until recently there were easily a dozen bird species I could identify by sound. When I first became ill in early 2025 birdsong became even more important to me. In those first weeks of being bedridden and blind, the sound of birds outside the window kept me company. Keith works, and was also looking after me, and thus could not sit at my bedside the whole time.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/an-orchestra-of-birds/
Anthropomorphising animals
(Nimue) I remember being told as a child, that it was not good to anthropomorphise animals because they are not like us. It came up around a bird flying into a window and my speculation that it had been curious and wanted to come inside. As an adult I’ve had a few experiences of curious birds coming in through windows, but I also appreciate that reflections confuse birds.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/13/anthropomorphising-animals/
Trust what you love
(Nimue) The advice to trust what I love came from Keith some years ago. It was offered to me as an antidote to anxiety and as a way of making better sense of myself. I have talked a bit recently about what drives my anxiety, and not feeling able to trust myself is very much part of that. Fans of Mary Oliver will no doubt have already remembered the line about letting the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/trust-what-you-love/
Being unnatural
(Nimue) I consider humans to be part of nature, not separate from it. The idea of humans being unnatural often serves to reinforce the sense of difference. The less able we are to recognise ourselves as part of the natural world, the more likely we are to keep on doing insane and ecocidal things. If we see ourselves as natural creatures who have had some really bad ideas, we would be better able to move on to better ideas.
Running Druid spaces
(Nimue) For anyone who does not like authority, leadership can be uncomfortable. At the same time, community is important and you don’t get community without some organising. Community is vital, more as a response to the needs of the world than as a specifically Druidic issue. For true resilience and for any hope of making things better, we need to come together collaboratively.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/running-druid-spaces/
Making sense of anxiety
(Nimue) When thinking about the causes of anxiety, we tend to consider external threats. In my experience, mental health support also assumes you are afraid of something happening to you. It has taken me a long time and a lot of therapy, to identify what I am most afraid of, and to make sense of it in a way that could help me heal.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/making-sense-of-anxiety/
Building a better society
(Nimue) I’ve felt for a long time that it isn’t enough to consider spiritual life as a purely personal concern. I get annoyed by people who want Druidry to be non-political. I do not see how anything a person can do can be truly non-political. Not engaging with something is also a political choice with consequences. When choices seem non-political to people it is usually because they are supporting the status quo.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/02/27/building-a-better-society/
Human being, human doing
(Nimue) Over many years, various people have pointed out to me that I am a human being, not a human doing. The trouble is that this has never worked for me, and that has everything to do with how I experience my own being. I have very little sense of self if I am not interacting with something other than me.
https://druidlife.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/human-being-human-doing/
