Druidry; City or Country

[Merlyn]

I think we all might like to live on a farm, but we also know how much work that is
Nature? or human nature?
I have lived through both, often reflecting on which lent itself more to my druidry.
Do you feel more like a druid in the country?
Do we feel our involvement in life and humanity is alive in the city? Suburbs of life?
Where do we as Drui do the most good?
Were do we feel at home, is druidry a self"ish" path for us, seeking where we fit in?
Or is it a more outreaching path?

[Badger Bob]

I think you can just as easily be a Druid no matter where you are. I live in the countryside but I lived in the city for many years (hated it though). Nature is only over at the park or a short bus-ride out of town, or even just beneath the tarmac we are standing on. The sky is the same whether we are in a city or the wilderness, you can just see a bit more out of town that is all.

Those druids who live in the city can make just as much a contribution as those of us who live in the sticks by the simple fact that they have more access to other people. Out here there are a few of us but in the city there could be huge groups if everyone got together and were seen out and about making a difference and being the alternative to the normal humdrum existence. Improving the environment and forming communities is something that is more easily achieved when the group size approaches a critical mass.

We all have our part to play.

[Merlyn]

Hi Badger Bob,
I had a parent from the scouting troop ask me "What is this Stonehenge looking thing in the middle of your back yard", as we were watching the herd of young scouts build a tower from the poles we had made from scrub trees, giving them a lesson in rope lashing and group efforts.
I pointed to the stone circle, and told him, "it is a large orientation circle, like a real life planetarium." What he may have been thinking is another matter, but it was definitely a "city mouse meets country mouse moment".

I see many who work with community, and even politics, helping the poor, working with groups like the 4H, scouts, awareness groups, civic associations, schools and even prisons.
This is all very vital work in our world. Equally as valid as those who trend to the hillsides, farming organically, exploring the natural world, discovering our past, working to better and preserve.

Druidry transcends both, I agree.
It might not be as "fun" a topic as beer or tea, but I think this speaks to our life, some in the band, playing songs of courage and hope, and others in the military, wishing all war could end.

We see druids in all of these roles. acting on each and every part of the human experience and as much directly with nature itself.
From these things, from the outside looking in, I think we learn a great deal.
Over the many many years of druid discussions, all looking out from the circle.
Do we think it is beneficial to see ourselves as others see us?
Too often I see the stress of all too serious thinking, and for the most part, if we dissect druidry from the inside out, a failing to move forward into life and put the gwers down.
Are we "living" a druid life? I expect we have all asked ourself this.
It is in some cases "but we are not doing as I think we should" or "we cannot relate to what druidism was"
This inside looking out sort of debate more often results in divides and frustrations.
But if we look at druidism from the outside, in..
We see wide ranges coming together instead.


From the outside looking in,

[Argenta]

As with your previous topic, I like neither
I prefer suburbs of smaller towns (50-100,000), which border with nature. I have spent most of my life in such places, and it is where I feel mostly at home, and able to give my best. In large cities, I get lost, in a more metaphysical sense, and think the contribution to community is not always as obvious or needed. I also don't like the feeling of being trapped in concrete there. On the other hand, I don't have what it takes to live in the country, grow my own food, and live in a cottage. At least not right now. But I do need some a wood or at least a thicket nearby, and some open space to wander around.

[White Star]

"Too often I see the stress of all too serious thinking." What an absolutely wonderful line, which to me is loaded with more wisdom than many whole books I have read. I love it .
I have an irrepressable sense of humour which is seen by some as flippancy, but that does not mean I am not spiritually sincere. I think many people who find a spiritual path forget that it's actually ok to smile and tell a joke now and then. A giggle or two can make the hardest path easier. Sorry to be off subject but I just have to thank you for that single line.

To arrive at your original question I live on the edge of a city so in many ways get the best of both worlds. I am actually growing some herbs of my own, a small thing but I feel good cos I am normally the kiss of death to plants but these are thriving so far We also live with 4 very bossy young chickens who are being a bit slow at the egg laying so they may wake up to 4 little white envelopes with their redundancy notices inside if they don't pull their fingers out. (Love em to bits really)
I feel just as druidic parking in the multi storey car park as I do in our ancient woodland on a misty morning listening to the dawn chorus, or actually in a druid circle. It's all part of the magic for me. The world has many ugly bits but is a beautiful place to be.

Blessings

[Merlyn]

Stress will kill ya long before anything else does, any healer will agree, be it a doctor or a herbalist.
We react, chemically in our body to our stress.
For some, the city is a heaven, full of ways to create, associate and live. The concrete can be a "safe" place far away from the wild world full of poison ivy and bugs.
For others the city is a maze, with a side of humanity we can't relate to, and we see the country as a place of harmony, loving the trees and the freedom to wander.

To this, "we must find our bliss", as Joseph Campbell would have said.
We can see druidism at work in both places, and for some of us like White Star, we may live in the wood and work in the city, getting a healthy dose of both almost every day.

[katie bridgewater]

Interesting programme on BB2 (sorry if you're not in the UK) tonight about city centre wildlife with Simon King.
Great to see a mainstream nature programme encouraging city folk to stop, look, listen and notice the living world around them since 9/10 people in Britain live in urban city environments. Now that's Druidry, and not a robe in sight (although I can't say Simon's skin tight v-neck pullover with no shirt underneath looked very spiritual... )
Since I seldom go anywhere near a town these days (unless I'm forced to!), I take sharing my garden with the wild things for granted and I often forget where 90% of my compatriots spend most of their time! A nice reminder for me of my dad who used to lead urban wild plant walks in Reading.

[Jake]

Interesting topic! This has been one of the major issues I've confronted during the course and related activities and it's caused me to have a huge change in perspective.

I was definitely raised as a "country mouse." My parents' house is deep enough in the woods that they have no street address and UPS and Fed-Ex know it as "the log cabin at the end of the dirt lane halfway up the mountain."

We sort of had the best of both worlds though in that Baltimore and DC were only about an hour and a half away by car and it took only a little more than twice that to get to NYC (where I fantasized about escaping to constantly in my early teens). But I never actually lived in the city until moving here to Austin. It took months before I could sleep soundly with all the noise and the lights, which caused friends from places like Chicago and New York no end of amusement. And all I could smell was sewage (the fact that I don't notice the odor as much anymore does disturb me a little).

Anyway, living here I'd always felt the need to go spend time in at least a little piece of "nature" in order to feel recharged. We're fortunate in Austin to have an extensive Greenbelt system in the city and to have several state parks, county nature preserves, etc., very close by so I never had to go far too far to find someplace without asphalt and away from too much noisy human junk.

Recently I've come to see less of a dichotomy between nature and city and have learned to embrace, and even sometimes feel embraced by, the wildness that is literally all around us in even the most "artificial" environment. I guess it helps that I live in an old townhome park full of live oaks across the street from a marsh where herons and cranes hang out. In addition to native plants and insects and a horde of geckos, our patio and the air space above it is a home/restaurant/pit stop to cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, white wing doves, turkey vultures, and even the occasional red-shouldered hawk. Not to mention the young opossum I startled terribly last night!

I'm finding I'm more attentive to and more entranced by the wildlife here and now than I ever was by the more abundant (and sometimes much bigger!) non-human folks in the woods in Pennsylvania or even on the farm in Indiana. I'm noticing things in parking lots, backyards and in the sky above the streets that I never noticed a year ago. I'm thrilled by learning about things I didn't consider awfully relevant a year ago. While at heart I'm still a rural person who misses the Appalachian mountains and hopes to live in the country again someday, and I still need to get away to a place with more trees than humans sometimes, my idea of the "natural" has changed not just intellectually but in my guts. And I'm starting to feel more at home in my adopted home as I stumble along doing this "druidry" thing.

[Julysea]

As with your previous topic, I like neither
I prefer suburbs of smaller towns (50-100,000), which border with nature. I have spent most of my life in such places, and it is where I feel mostly at home, and able to give my best. In large cities, I get lost, in a more metaphysical sense, and think the contribution to community is not always as obvious or needed. I also don't like the feeling of being trapped in concrete there. On the other hand, I don't have what it takes to live in the country, grow my own food, and live in a cottage. At least not right now. But I do need some a wood or at least a thicket nearby, and some open space to wander around.

Yep, that's me too. Somewhere large enough to have buses and trains and where I can walk or cycle to most things I need easily with 2 kids in tow, but small enough to feel a part of the community and make a difference that way, and easy to step outside the town into green nature.

[Ghostrider]

I'm currently living smack in the middle of a big city... Bristling with surrounding ports and industries...
It's not much too my liking, but on the positive note.. I do appreciate it more when I get the opportunity to go OUT of town.
Also, despite the hustle and bustle, I quite enjoy sitting in the park, or garden, closing my eyes and shutting everything out, except the birds!

My Lady and I are looking into buying a small farm thought. Not for growing LOOOOOOADS of crops or anything, but we plan on providing space for the Pagan community to celebrate the Festivals, have workshops, etc.
Because we need to earn an honest buck too.. .. we also plan on letting others use the place. I know a bowyer that would love to do some workshops there. If we can get a decent bit of land, we may be able to host some archery-contests, some LARP-peeps, plenty of potential customers.

An 'observatory' in the form of some Stonehenge-like contraption is also something we hope to build, as well as grow our own herbs and veges (if not ALL, then at least as many as we can..), etc, etc.

All in all, we hope to gain as much as we can, spiritually and physically, and provide the same to others at the same time.
Now all we need is that darn BANK to cough up some cash!

[Aurora]

I've lived in the city all my life and since coming to druidry have really started noticing and appreciating the nature that is around me. I'm really lucky that here in Sydney there are several large national parks and gardens in and around the city that i can go to aswell. I don't think i would be comfortable living deep in the wilderness (that's probably my inner city mouse talking ) but would like to eventually move to a place like White Star lives as i think it would be the best like having the best of both worlds to dwell in at the same time.

All the same i'm doing my best to make and maintain my connection to the world, by trying to be an example others can be learn from. And you can do that no mater where you are

[Ade Sundog]

I think i'm lucky where i live , in a medium to large village , and i live right on the edge of it. I can be in the country in jiffy , where theres woods and hedges and fields streams and canals , and i'm not really far from the hills , and i do love it. If i want to get to any towns -and there are three fairly near , well its a 25 minute bike ride (slow peddler) or 10 mins in the car. From there i can get to the city (Birmingham) if i wanna . The best thing about it are the canals , becuz i can cycle from here , right into the middle of Brum on the canal towpaths , and never even go near a road ,and it is such an amazing oddessy of a journey.

I don't think i could live in the wilderness , or deep in the woods say , i haven't got the ingenuity.

[Frog]

I think we all might like to live on a farm, but we also know how much work that is
Nature? or human nature?
I have lived through both, often reflecting on which lent itself more to my druidry.
Do you feel more like a druid in the country?
Do we feel our involvement in life and humanity is alive in the city? Suburbs of life?
Where do we as Drui do the most good?
Were do we feel at home, is druidry a self"ish" path for us, seeking where we fit in?
Or is it a more outreaching path?

Hello Merlyn!
You know, I don't think I'd like to live on a farm. Even with my Scouting skills to fall back on, I've spent most of my life in an urban environment - on the outskirts of London, just touching the Green Belt so have got used to the comforts that go with that.

But through my voluntary work, I can introduce the next generation to the world around them and hopefully encourage them to appreciate what is there... and how we are all a part of it.

As this world increases in population, more will migrate to the cities to find work; whilst it is important that Druids tend to the hills and "sheep flocks", we also need the druids to tend to the "people flocks".

Blessings
Frog

[Merlyn]

Hi Frog,
I live on a hill now, far away from the city. I can say that it took some time to get re-adjusted. I had been in a neighborhood, just feet from the city line, for about 15 years.
Before that I had for the most part, lived in the suburbs, gone through school and college, worked many different jobs and eventually it all got to be pretty overwhelming to me.
After caring for my parents, and burying them both, I moved away.

My farm is called Stone Feather Farm, and it sits right on the Catoctin mountain range, on the Catoctin creek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catoctin_Mountain
It is a lot of work, and a very different way of life. I built my studio here, and have no commute. My wife and I grow peppers, herbs, tomatoes and all on the farm, and she runs a restaurant over in West VA, in the historical old town of Harpers Ferry. We have a few chickens, and the fox and deer run wild.

You are right, it does take a lot to manage living out in the country. I do enjoy it though.

In light,

[DaRC]

I've read some inspirational stories of Urban Druids doing guerilla gardening but at roots I'm a country boy.
I could live a lot more rural but work and wife wouldn't cope - we have a good balance of living in a small village but a couple of miles from a larger village and 30 minutes from the city.

[treegod]

I grew up in a fairly cosmopolitan town-now-city (Hove part of Brighton and Hove) but had lots of access to the countryside. Even went to a farm to help the shepherdess on our holidays in a caravan. My dad for a few years owned a flock of Southdown sheep. We lived in town but there were various sites we kept the flock in. And later I studied a mixture of agriculture and conservation at college, working with several conservation volunteer groups. But I'm quite content in an urban setting. I feel quite evenly spread.

What I would like to see is more integration of non-human nature into cities. That the boundary between urban and rural blurs a little. There was a study that too much exposure to human urban environments can have negative mental effects on the brain. But I don't think rejecting the urban would be good, that's why I say I'd prefer to see more non-human nature in human dominated settings. And so many people live in urban settings, it wouldn't work if everyone decided to leave the city's for "the hills".

I now live in the countryside, in a Spanish masía, in a valley of the Prades mountains overlooking the mediteranean. Between me and the sea there is a great big petrol plant, which during the day we call Mordor (for the smoke) and at night Las Vegas (amazing how much light it uses). So I'm reminded that I'm not isolated from the urban. Wouldn't want to be too much either. Some of my food comes from a veg patch and the chicken coop. Occasionally we find something in the woods (asparagus or mushrooms) but most of our food comes from urban based infrastructure.

I think there needs to be more of an integration between the two, not an either/or perspective.

[DaRC]

it wouldn't work if everyone decided to leave the city's for "the hills"

when i first started MTBing back in '90 I lived in Brighton and I'd ride the hills and on a sunny day would see a few ramblers, horse riders and the very occasional MTB'er. In recent years there's been a lot more emphasis, a mix of people's desire and media articles, on getting people into the countryside. The South Downs Way is a veritable motoryway of people on a sunny day now. This is a good thing for people to connect with nature - but it does require everyone to be tolerant and respectful ; it's far too easy as the population density rises for the levels of intolerence to rise too.

[Merlyn]

I had grown used to the city, the traffic and all, expert at knowing the back roads and times when two miles would not mean two hours stuck in traffic.
But it took some getting used to in the country to look in my mirror and not see anyone, and to no longer deal with someone always being behind me waiting for me to get out of the way, on the road, in line, and pretty much where ever I went.

[Attila]

I think druids and ‘barbarians’ generally simply didn’t like ‘civilisation’ [cities], as it inevitably involves exploitation and a general subversion of our freedoms. I think civilisation had been around long enough that the peoples of northern Europe could have easily adopted it [or kept it even ~ as it was there prior to the migrations], but chose not to. Damn good thinking if you ask me.

For us modern druids I think we have to put up with what is there, and utilise it.

Bring back barbarianism.

[saphera]

Well, I live on a large cattle station (farm) in a semi arid region of Australia... The Outback. Our annual average rainfall is about 12 inches.
My husband manages this property for a company.
2,000 square miles in area, with only the 15 or so people who work here and about 22,000 head of cattle...and working horses too.
.and wildlife...kangaroos, emus, brolgas..... camels(camels run wild and are left over from the old gold rush days in the late 1800's in this area)..lots of birds, eagles too.. snakes, lizards...some dingoes, wild pigs...
A great place to be in touch with the element of Earth... beautiful rocks and crystals and sand...
Little surface water... the creeks and few rivers only run after rain and only hold water for about 6 months...
There are earth tanks (dams) for holding run off water and bores pump underground water into tanks and troughs for cattle to drink.
No forests, no mountains...but we do have hills, trilobite fossils, and lots of grass, spinifex, shrubs, and various types of trees including assorted eucalypts and acacias
and the area has rich mineral deposits.... copper, gold, silver, zinc, and phosphate.... Quite a few mines in the area.
I lived in a large town until I left school at 17 years of age and have lived in the 'Bush' ever since....
I love the great open spaces... beautiful sunrises, sunsets....you can go walking or riding the push bike or driving and see no one....only the animals that live here.
It is very quiet and the only stress we have, goes with the job.... still have schedules to keep... mustering the cattle, trucking them away when their time has come, fixing the windmills, fences, watering infrastructure.
To be a druid here is perfect....but the celtic groves with the oaks are light years away. The picture of tall, stark, white, Gum trees make a very pleasing visualization.
saphera.