Your Druid Space

[AFDruidAlex]

How does where you live influence your Druidic views? Does your home or the surrounding area have any significant meaning to you as a Druid? Have you made any additions to encourage your spirituality?

I was thinking of this earlier, and I've had a look around my house and yard just to feel the energy. At my home, we have a very large oak in the front yard surrounded by landscaping stones, and this tree to me has significant meaning. Generally larger, older trees are seen as "Guardian's of the Forest." That's what this tree is to my home, it's a guardian. You can feel it there, and it's an amazing feeling. I wanted to hear from all of you, about your homes. I want to know if anyone else has a connection like this, or if you've modeled your home to support you on your path. The place where you live is sacred, it's where you spend all of your time.

[Aphritha]

I do what I can to add spiritual reminders in the home. I have a wreath with a pentacle in the middle decorated to celebrate the seasons on my door. We have various fountains around the house, placed in specific spots to help with cash flow(though our potty is in a bad spot, according to Feng Shui!).
I wish I had more of a yard. I share it with other neighbors, but we do manage to keep a garden. Thinking about planting a tree in the front yard, if we can keep the landlord from mowing over it.

[AFDruidAlex]

It's good to hear you're doing what you can with what you have, that's what it's all about! The house we lived in before my current one was in a neighborhood... And we didn't have a yard so it was very depressing. Now that we're in the country with a few acres it's easier to do what I want! Even though I'm only 18 and still live with my Christian parents... I sneak in what I can here and there.

[Aphritha]

Having a few acres must be wonderful! You've always got place to hide and do your own thing.
I remember having to disguise stuff...how are some of the ways you've managed to? Though I will say with Druidry, it tends to be natural looking so there's less questions asked from those who wouldn't view it as positively!

[plaidcat]

I don't have much devoted space, because we are between apartments right now and living with my mom. Aside from an altar in the bedroom, I make do with visits to local and state parks. I've found some really magical spots during hiking and backpacking forays, places I didn't want to leave! One day I'll have a yard with a personal space!

[Dragon]

My yard has ivy growing up the walls and at the base large pots with numerous shrubs. This makes a backdrop for meditation and ritual work. I can really lose myself in this small space and find welcome access to the Otherworld spirits and power animal friends/guides I have grown to know so well.

This year I knocked the outhouse down (before it fell down of its own accord !) and built an altar space with murals of green man amidst leaves cascading down the wall and mini waterfalls to the side corners. I have places for small animal figures, candles and incense. It has a different quality of magic to the other side of the yard with the ivy and shrubs. Here feels more formal for specific deity salutations and journeying to the upper realms of the Otherworld.

The concrete of the yard itself I divided into crazy paving and cheerful coloured gravel for the shrub area with the other half leading to the new altar area
being divided into brightly coloured squares each with a Celtic motif or animal or druid symbol. The effect is quite pleasant to the eye and gives a sense of power and vitality especially when the sun shines down on it.

Cheers.

[EmilyRaven]

I live in an apartment, but I have an herb garden on my window ledge. There are rocks I have collected from hikes and rock shows all around my apartment. I do see my home as my Grove right now, even though it's temporary. Finally, I have cedar incense and a bunch of dried sage that I burn from time to time to add to the feeling of natural enchantment inside.

[cypresseyes]

I plan on moving to Tennessee in a few years and making my new home my spiritual retreat. A few years back I purchased 15 acres of rolling hills. The land is alive with nature spirits. Plans are in place for a grove. The acres are 20% in grass, 25% wetlands with a creek running through it, and 55% hardwood and pine. It is the place where my heart dwells and my spirit soars.

[Whitemane]

We live in an urban renewal area, meaning it was the edge of town in the 1890s, and now it is part of downtown.

Even in the relatively leafy cities of the midwest, it is difficult to find a quiet space you can make into something special. We had to sacrifice the back yard for a garage after we couldn't come to an agreement with a landlord who owned a parking lot. We have a herb container garden which is doing well, but we are on a major commuter route, so it never gets really quiet.

We have a picnic area at work that is alongside a river where I can take a few minutes in the morning. There's all sorts of wildlife and the banks are well-treed, muffling the sound of the city, and that seems to be the best I can do.

[Kitty]

My house is in the historic part of town, which means that not only is my house at least a hundred years old with wood everywhere inside, but we have two trees (one in the front and one in the back) which are just as old as the house. They are HUGE and cover practically our whole yard with shade. I have a screened in front porch, which is wonderful to sit in during the summer (but a bit too chilly this time of year), and we are saving up to add a retaining wall and fence for the back yard, since right now we are on a corner where there are always people wandering by and the neighbor's dogs randomly visiting, making it not the most ideal for setting anything up. I do have a small garden set up that I can grow a few herbs, and a compost in the far corner, but until we have the fence, that's about all I have for outdoors. Inside we took out the carpet on the main floor and refinished the gorgeous wood floors there, and repainted everything in browns and blues and greens. Then I made curtains in blues and greens for the whole house. All in all, it has a very calming and natural feel to it. So far the only room I've really 'finished' decorating is the bathroom, where I found a brown and blue shower curtain, I made a curtain that matches colors with that, we have green walls and brown towels hanging, along with TONS of photos I've taken of various places out in nature. I've had friends say it feels like being outside while inside.