I have a little off grid hut at the top of my property, it’s perched high above the burn that forms my eastern boundary and I regularly spend time there with an overnight stay once every week or so. It’s like a mini retreat that I give myself.

I just sit quietly, open to whatever flows though the my head mind space but always attempting to watch the antics that happen there from my heart mind space instead of getting too involved with the thoughts and feelings that are often a constant flow.

Two weeks ago we had a wonderful few days of warm weather with daytime temperatures up to 24ºC which is a first for the west coast of Scotland this year as it has generally been overcast and wet.

I took advantage of this and spent a whole afternoon wandering naked and barefoot in the ancient oak woods enjoying the early autumn sunlight as it filtered through the trees and bought the colours alive. It’s remote here so very little chance of meeting anyone and I was able to be relaxed and open. Sitting out by one of the ancient oaks with the fluttering of the leaves casting moving shadows across my body I became aware of how I gate/control my senses and my nakedness is part of my way to open those gates to perceive that which lies outside my normal realm of perception. I often have what you might call intuitive feelings but I never seem to be able to step beyond that self imposed barrier that prevents me connecting beyond that which is apparent.

This was all a prelude to an overnight stay in my cabin. As part of my Druid practise I often journey. Shifting my consciousness from this apparent world to an alternative reality. I use various means to achieve this shift. Most commonly the regular beat of a drum but there are other methods, using the repeated sound of a rattle or a particular riff played on one of my flutes.

On this occasion I used a completely different method and shifted easily into that altered state of consciousness and over the course of the evening had the most profound experience of being part of and completely connected to the Web of Life. It was such an intense experience, being part of the whole, no separation.

Whilst this was my lived experience I know that it is not exclusive to me, each of us and everything within the cosmos has that intimate connection to all, there is that invisible and yet paradoxically visible web of life that connects everything. We can have that intellectual knowing, we may have that intuitive knowing but that only takes us so far. To actually step beyond those self imposed boundaries is when we really know.