Nature Connection

There is a large body of research that indicates contact with nature is good for your mental health. I have direct experience, witnessing how conservation activities directly impacted patients in several acute psychiatric wards. A patient who had been struggling with acute anxiety disorder, and who was nearly catatonic became animated when digging, and after 20 minutes said that for the 1st time in his life, his anxiety was gone! Now called Eco-therapy, more formalised approaches to leveraging the special qualities of nature, forest bathing, or as it was first coined in Japanese,  shinrin yoku , have started to grow in momentum in the American and British cultural zeitgeist as a passive consumer product . The practice is to surround oneself in nature, mindful of sight, sound, and smell. It is a passive activity requiring zero interaction with the environment. Climate Anxiety Climate anxiety may become one of the major drivers of anxiety disorders and depression, and is full...

A deeper connection with nature can be achieved through learning wilderness survival skills from skilled practitioners. XReadiness  document recommends learning to become adept at making fire. I agree, but I am surprised at the lack of detail, in this short paragraph. In the 1st instance, I don't have a tumble dryer, so there is no dryer lint. In building my survival skillset, I have developed a method for processing plants to see if they meet the standards for being used as tinder for a flint and steel or ferro-rod. If plant material can accept high and low-grade sparks, then it can be lit with a lighter. "FiRE-MAKiNG & ALTERNATiVE HEATiNG METHODS Knowing how to make fire safely and efficiently is critical for heat, cooking, and morale. Learn at least two fire-starting techniques: matches, lighters, flint and steel, ferro rods, or solar magnification. Carry tinder (cotton, birch bark, dryer lint) and kindling in your emergency bag; dry materials are often hard to find dur...

"Sit Under A Tree & Ask It What it Wants From Me" These posts are not about individual beliefs or healers who use offbeat methods to help people. My critique is of people who are selling a cultish belief systems with no foundation in reality that deny climate science and reality.  I am wondering if I am giving these Plastic Shaman too much time? Maybe, or maybe they need to be exposed for their nonsense. Its actally not cultural appropriation to use the term shaman because it has no meaning. It is a term stolen from an indigenous culture whose spiritual identity has been wiped out by extractivism & genocide. It is a term imposed neocolonially by anthropologists and everyone else onto indigenous people. In fact Core Shamanism is a white fascio-anthropological construct  (link to a post explaining the history of  Shamanism). Core Shamanism is now being taught to indigenous cultures who have had their traditions genoncided by the close relatives of those now recoloni...

I often hear things like 'society is breaking down,' 'young people are out of control,' and 'we need national service.' Then I wonder how many of the adults calling for this have gone through national service? If they are Generation X, like me, none of them. But we have all gone through Rites Of Passage, even if we don't realise it. Turning 16, 18, 21? First kiss? First sex? First time Getting Drunk, stoned, or tripping? That Ayahuasca tour you went on? Getting a driver's license? Death of a parent? Surviving Trauma? But these are not real Rites Of Passage. A Rite of Passage is a transformative process. Apart from the last, there is an expectation that every child of industrialised countries will go through these with minimal input from their elders. Yet in indigenous cultures, the Elders are central to the transformative process of a Rite of Passage. If we are to inherit Rites of Passage from our ancestors, let's not sanitise them so we can ...

Dungeons and Dragons, or the more up to date version, World of Warcraft have never attracted me. Perhaps its because I have been handling real weapons in the woods and have the skills of the fantasy Ranger, except my skills are real and not based on the roll of a dice. People tell me about forest spirits. Well fed, people, they are not talking about the gnawing hunger between winter and spring. They talk of Fairies, Not Baba Yaga, the death that stalks the land during famine. The See'rs of industrial capitalism spirits are optimistic of a growth future.  The dominant conversation about the future has no foundation in the reality of the science of current climate observations. Observations, not models. " We stand on the precipice of profound shifts across every dimension of our existence, driven by the dual forces of degradation and innovation. The Earth’s deterioration, climate change, and the collapse of systems ill-equipped to navigate us through these exponential shifts und...

The Ecological Collapse and Overshoot are driving climate chaos and civilization collapse. The collapse of our food production system will be the biggest wake-up call that no one expected to happen as quickly as it is. It starts with the fear of rising food prices like eggs. but the bigger shocks are when grain, corn, rice, and other common staples start to collapse. What is it the we can do to cope with these situations? Foods that traditionally have been associated with famine need to be foods which we focus on for the future. Interestingly many of these foods also have ranges from sub-tropical to the arctic circle and there is evidence that humans have been eating these foods since before the neolithic. Reed Mace, Typha Latifolia Silver Weed,  Potentilla anserina Lesser Celandine,   Ranunculus ficaria Duck Potato,  Sagittaria latifolia We continue to forget that the Amazon was a planted forest.  However, this is too little too late.  There is now enough CO2 a...

Why do plastic medicine people & neo Shaman make drums as their go-to ceremonial noise-maker tool? Its simple, you can get it all in kit form. Perfectly machined drum hoop, skins ready to go and thong precision cut. They probably "birthed" their drum in a workshop, learning from someone else, who did exactly the same, with exactly the same materials,from simillar suppliers. The cultural traditions of plastic medicine people and neo-shamans is based in the consumption of woodlands, industrial wood machining and mass slaughter. Cherry wood Bullroarer, made by the author The Bullroarer however is far older than the drum, making a distinctive resonant undulating vibrating sound. It has been found among indigenous peoples of Africa, North America & Australia. All of these cultures use them ceremonially. Some cultures believe they are inbued with the spirits of the dead, and that bynplaying them we honour their spirits abd unvite them to be present. Bullroarers ...

Carbon is well recognized as a high-performance additive to resins and glues, something our hunter-gatherer ancestors knew well. Until as late as the 7th Century AD the glues that held civilizations together were Birch and Pine Tar. In fact, the trade in Birch and Pine Tar was a central part of the Roman Empires near global trade circuits. Pine Pitch manufactured in the Pyranese was sought across the empire to fix broken things and glue the tips onto archers' arrows, and these are the things we know about. Think of it as the 1st hot glue The size of the carbon (charcoal) powder makes a difference in the quality of the glue. the finer the charcoal the better the bond. It's easier to grind charcoal made from reeds than that from hardwoods. The quality of the wood or other material carbonised likely makes a difference too.  The video is here:  Making Pine Tar Glue Beware, as I work with the glue and the melting tar/resin I warn you it is hot and then handle it. This is afte...

A New Era, Here Without Warnings? An era of drought. Thats right this is not a one off Heatwave, this is an SHTF. This is the era of civilisation collapse . Anthropogenic, abrupt, rapid and irreversible climate change causing flash flooding, Severe storms, heatwaves & severe drought. This is not just a human tragedy, this is an ecological tragedy, wildlife are as much at risk.  Global Flash flooding, landslides, & mud & tree trunk Lahars with cars mixed in, driven by heavy rains have forced their way through texas, Tibetan & Nepali Towns. Killing hundreds, often without warning. Pluvial precipitation, ain so heavy it changes landscapes, & washes crops out of fields. The New Era is one of Climate & ecological collapse. A hard truth even environmentalist will neither face nor talk about. This is why we #talkcollapse Adaptation & Mitigation Mitigating climate change and adapting to its effects are two equally urgent tasks...

This is a "how to" for the DIY manufacture of Xylem water filters for survival use.  https://youtube.com/@xylemwaterfilter5472?si=tA-IbSuA30GFpkLT Research Data & Further Reading https://news.mit.edu/2021/filters-sapwood-purify-water-0325 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260448530_Water_Filtration_Using_Plant_Xylem https://www.scribd.com/document/425759792/The-Potency-of-Xylem-as-a-Water-Filter https://www.instructables.com/Unusual-Use-of-Plant-Xylem-Coconut-Shell-to-Make-W/ https://masterwoodsman.com/2014/water-filtration-using-plants/ http://www.xylemwaterfilter.org/faq/how-can-one-make-xylem-filters-from-trees-2/

Shamanic Practitioners are fast-track, short-cut shamans only in name. Shamanic is a relatively new term, I think, probably related to the New Age movement. If 'shamanic' describes a shaman, then from my perspective, the New Age shaman does not align with what indigenous people understand a medicine person to mean. A postmodern interpretation of what the shaman is can be best outlined here.  "The shaman fulfils some of the transcendental artistic expression, some of the counselling and accompanying done by psychologists and philosophers. Acting as a mirror and also being the creator of the collective dream, he/she is the storyteller and keeper of the cultural memory, reminding us of the work of a Jungian analyst helping us read and rewrite the ‟circuitry” of our soul. We now live in a time when this shaman is showing himself again to the world.. The shaman's functions in the community are keeping the balance between man and nature, keeping the culture alive, the storie...

Severe Heat & Drought If You dont know what a wetbulb chart is and what those temperatures mean for your safety and activity levels, then you haven't  been paying attention. You will need a basic datalogging digital hygrometer /thermometer with an. Ap for your phone Inkbird thermometer/hygrometer   (eBay link) This is the Inkbird I use The external sensor wrapped in cloth to reduce to sensor getting too hot in direct sun and giving false readings. App basic data Temperature logged data 16-07-2025 & during the last heatwave 10-07-2025 Hunidity log dates are clearly marked on the x-axis. Wet Bulb Tables  Wet Bulb Chart website. The MOD uses Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) to make decisions, particularly in situations involving heat stress and physical activity. WBGT is a combined measure that considers air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed to assess the impact of...

Imagine Survival & Prepping Forums where survival skills are discussed, but climate change and any type of climate-related existential threat can't be discussed because it's too triggering for the climate-denyin' idiots? F Bönhoeffer had a lot to say about stupid people  (YouTube 10-minute video). His theory of stupidity was written while in Prison in Nazi Germany in 1943. He observed & questioned how a nation of poets & thinkers degenerated into a nation of cowards and criminals?  What he observed not only shaped his era, but is also alarmingly present today. End Times Fascism We are living in a disaster of our own making, and the people who might have the skills needed to survive are so stupid that to maintain their denial status, they need to create a culture of thuggery to maintain their ignorant status. They dominate these forums while also making a living from selling disinformation through their YouTube channel membership. End Times Fascism us the extre...

Sit Under a Tree & Ask it What it Wants of Me. This is the impossible question because humans don't speak tree, so any answer is a projection.  "Shamanic Practitioner" is a Modern New-Ager from the industrial Capitalist world who imagines or projects themselve to be a shaman, without the trials and connection to nature that indigenous shaman go through or learn. Most shamanic practitioners reject the learning of any type of skills that indigenous shamans may have learned prior to being chosen by the tribes elders to go into the wilderness and be apprenticed to a shaman, because they don't think we are going to hunt & gather in the future. Anyone could be excused for believing that wilderness survival is just a case of reading a few manuals. Reality, however, is very different.  I don't think these LARPing shamanic types can be blamed for thinking survival skills are easy to just pick up. Connection To The Ancient Landacape   I have a degree in Sustainable ...

The Scout, need to know the magic and skills of fire . Fire is the Heart and Hearth of the community. We celebrate with Fire . For this is the alchemy, not of the gods, but of human ingenuity. Fire was not stolen from the Gods, it was invented from friction, from the sky (lightning), from flints and pyrites . Catching a spark or ember onto a volatile, portable medium which is made of the flesh of a fungi processed into felt, nettle fibre processed into fluff, Burdock leaves processed into cotton fluff, or old canvas cooked to make char cloth . None of these skills requires a knife; a flint flake and some rough flat stones are enough. The knowledge of making fire with natural tinder and friction, or sparks, even from a modern Ferro-Rod, is the most basic of plant-based learning and nature connection skill development practices. Friction fire is a whole other dimension of plant lore. The above links connect to my YouTube channel, which is about Deep Nature Connection Skills My Fora...