As always, thanks to the Black Mountain Druid Order for their excellent course and support!

Week 6

1. What healing herbs and plants are associated with your favorite High Day?
Alban Elved is my favorite High Day, and associated with it are many products of the second harvest, colored leaves, wreaths made with autumn flowers, corn, maize, pine cones, vines, and acorns.

2. Thinking about your favorite holiday from the Wheel of the Year, how does the aspect of spiritual growth associated with your favorite High Day relate to your life right now?

As stated on the BMDO website "It is a time for being thankful for how far we’ve come, and for considering how far we still have to go." I think at this stage of my life (midlife) this is an important time for me to reflect on what I've achieved in my life, and yet remember how much more I want to do!

3. Why is this your favorite High Day?

In addition to the synchronicity with my life noted above, it also feels like a time to slow down, relax a little and enjoy life after a rich summer harvest. Allegorically, this is what is happening in my own life, having left the corporate world, and moved into a more fulfilling but slower paced role as a writer.

Week 7

1. In what ways does the experience of nature change your mental and emotional states?

I really found the concept of 'fascination' as opposed to 'focused attention' quite intriguing. I didn't have a vocabulary for the effects before, but now I do. When outside I am able to leave behind much of the mental stimuli the pervades my household - dogs milling about, children needing attention, wife asking for chores done. Outside, all that is left behind, and my mind is free to take in the much more natural stimuli, which is at once less intense, and more fulfilling.

2. When you are in a natural environment, what changes do you notice in your mind? In your body? In your spirit? In your emotions?

In doors the conveniences of the modern world are all begging for attention and distract me - a flushing toilet, a dripping sync, or the hum of the 60Hz electrical appliances. As I leave the confines of my home and head out into the wilderness, I start to notice things that perhaps I saw as a child, which brings back memories and pleasant feelings. I was out for a walk this morning, and the ice is finally off the ditches which are now filled with water - the perfect breeding ground for tadpoles and frogs. I remember many an adventure playing in ditches.

This primal recall of events puts me in a very relaxed mind frame, and nourishes me spiritually, bringing my emotions back into balance. I'm not worried about getting things 'done' while I'm outside, I'm just outside, existing, being, experienceing.

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In the days of the shield-wall, there yet lived poets, scribes and philosophers.

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