ABOUT

I am James Nichol and I live in the city of Gloucester, England, having just moved there from Stroud in the same county. My contemplative inquiry began in 2012, grounded in modern Druidry. My book, Contemplative Druidry: People, Practice and Potential, was published in 2014. It includes a foreword, Deep Peace of the Quiet Earth, by Philip Carr-Gomm, at that time Chosen Chief of OBOD (https://www.druidry.org). There are major contributions in the main text from 14 other Druids offering diverse perspectives on the topic: https://www.amazon.co.uk/contemplative-druidry-people-practice-potential/dp/1500807206/

In this blog, I include personal sharing, photographs, discursive writing, poetry and book reviews. Over the years, I have reached beyond Druidry and drawn on the enduring wisdom of many times and places. I have discovered an underlying peace and at-homeness in the present moment, which, when experienced clearly and spaciously, nourishes and illuminates my life. It is not dependent on belief or circumstance, but on the ultimate acceptance that this is what is given.

Since I am a Druid, this discovery sits within an existing commitment to the sacred earth and web of life: to a limited yet much valued personal existence in the context of nature, history and I-Thou relationships. Looking in, it feels as if I am resourced by a timeless, unboundaried dimension from which I am not separate. Looking out, I find that my peace and at-homeness support a spirit of openness, an ethic of interdependence and a life of abundant simplicity. My new cycle of inquiry will ask what my capacity for the world may be, at this stage of my life.

EDITED TUESDAY, 20 JANUARY 2022

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