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@minnesotadruids
Information on training, initiation, and ordination in Reformed Druidry
The Order of Bradán Feasa (OBF) druid training program just launched version 3.0! We've revised some content and added new content. The OBF training program is an interactive free PDF workbook series on Reformed Druidism.
For anyone in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, or anyone with the urge to travel from farther afield:
All are welcome to the 63rd anniversary gathering of the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA), located at the birthplace of American spiritual Druidism, the Carleton College Arboretum in Northfield, Minnesota. What began as a semi-serious protest against coerced chapel attendance, has since become a world religion to some, and a nature philosophy to others. While all other Druid orders at the time were Masonic mutual benefit societies, Reformed Druidism broke the mold in many ways, and delved into the quest for spiritual Awareness.
Initiations to Reformed Druidism will be available with no prerequisites, and no new expectations or obligations. Well, as long as you look to Nature for inspiration and spirituality at least 🙂
Saturday, June 20, 2026, 12:30 to 2 PM Carleton College Arboretum, Northfield, Minnesota
See full details at: https://oakdalegrove.org/reunion.html
Come hang out with the Druids of Oakdale Grove (RDNA) for "part II" of our May casual hangout. Sat, May 23, 2026, 1-3 PM Caribou Coffee 3354 Rice Street Little Canada, MN We'll be in the meeting room with the glass door and long table!
Today Oakdale Grove made pilgrimage and had a somber memorial and deconsecration ritual in Rushford, Minnesota for the 337 year old bur oak that was destroyed in a storm last July. I previously visited this tree in May 2022 and was in awe at its size.
A server for the Reformed Druidry movement AND for anyone who would like to learn from us, with us, or about us. Nature is a major component
Where have we been? Oakdale Grove is still super active in Minnesota. John the Verbose is still quite active within it. Yes, Tumblr has been neglected, even in a time where Druids and Druid-Adjacent people are still building back a community since the 2019 Tumblr decline started.
The reality is threefold, but TLDR, we're a lot more active on the Reformed Druidry Discord now!
In 2019 the Tumblr rules changed, and regular people left in droves in solidarity for the OPs of the adult side of Tumblr that had been ousted. The p0rn bots that everyone loathed, however, were still plaguing the site. This place felt like a ghost town in terms of real people.
In the pandemic, I created a free self-study Druidry training program for the Reformed Druidry movement, or for solo Druids, or even for anyone who didn't consider themselves Druids but who were remotely interested in it. It is called the Order of Bradán Feasa. This took a lot of my free time and concentration. I also repurposed and revamped a number of my Tumblr posts as part of the training content in my workbooks. Working diligently, thinking that I could possibly even die from a new virus before I ever published, worked on it constantly as if I might have been already dying. The pandemic was prime motivation to leave a legacy. Luckily I'm still here and now published!
During the pandemic I found druidic communities on Discord, and I created one for the Reformed Druidry movement where I'm active there pretty much daily.
The thing that I keep holding onto Tumblr for is that there are a few friends here that I only really get to interact with via this platform. Some of you really actually mean a lot to me, and I've never said that directly to you, but I'm very reserved about that. If I've ever somehow otherwise made that obvious to you though, well, you know who you are. Now I just deleted a whole paragraph below this one because I am reserved on this topic, plus it was a tangent from my main point of this post.
Anyway, I'm going to try to resume posting here more frequently and reading the blogs of those I follow. If all else fails, hey, find us on Discord!
Saturday, May 16, 2026, 1-2 PM Magelssen Bluff Park, Rushford, MN
Calling all #Druids in MN, IA, WI, Come meet up with the Druids of Oakdale Grove on our tree memorial pilgrimage and PICNIC at Magelssen Bluff Park in Rushford, Minnesota on Saturday, May 16, 2026 from 1 to 3 PM. PLEASE RSVP via Google Forms link. It takes 2+ hours to get to Rushford from Twin Cities MN. There are no grills in the park. My carpool is full.
an RDNA druidry newsletter driven by reader contributions
The latest issue of C.O.R.D. Biquarterly Druidry newsletter is now live for Lughnasadh!
Highlights in this issue: • News from the Groves • Seasonal poetry & photography • "Memories and the Milky Way Dark,” a tribute to a beloved mentor • A Slice of Nature – seasonal food activities • Finding the Quiet in the Land – healing in introspection • A liturgy for the EDNA (Egalitarian RDNA)
Note: this link gets updated with "current" issues 9x/year, so when this post is 2 months old or older, it will now open to a more recent issue.
The Hill of Three Oaks was the popular selection for this frame. Across multiple social media platforms, it was a very close competition overall (though none of the 25 votes came through BlueSky). Pine and Sunset were the next best fits according to the crowdsourcing, but I’ll continue to seek out suitable frames for each.
Your Opinions Are Requested!
So, other social media saw it first, but I'm crowd-sourcing opinions on which of my six photographs fits with this reclaimed wood picture frame the best.
These are my own photography, and in fact they are the pages of the 2023 Minnesota Nature calendar I created a few years back. Six of the twelve photos in the calendar simply did not match well with the frame or the color & shape of the mat. These six are a decent fit.
When I was hastily staging the photos, I didn't fixate on proper alignment, as you will notice the frame is just sitting on top of the mat, and the hanging wire is even sitting on top. The proportions, composition, and line curvature will be much better after the "winning" photo is selected,
but this is where I want your input. Comment below on which picture you think works best with the frame!
You can also rank them or tell me what your "tie winners" are if there are more than one in your opinion. I'm pooling opinions between Discord, Instagram, BlueSky, and now here on Tumblr. Eventually my goal is to find sympathetically suitable frames for each page of the calendar. The large mat is needed to cover up the nail hole and the spiral binding punch-outs at the top and bottom, respectively.
When do you meet next?
Next will be our Oimelc ritual at Roseville Central Park: at the fire pit by the Jayce’s picnic shelter, this coming Saturday at noon
Oakdale Grove DEI Statement
"Druidism is open to anyone who wishes to be part of it..." —The Epistle of Midsummer 3:2
Oakdale Grove of the Reformed Druids of North America asserts its dedication to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and diverse community. As a minority spirituality we have a legacy of being inclusive and uplifting of people of marginalized walks of life. All are welcome who would affirm and demonstrate that ALL are indeed welcome.
Leading by Example: The Reformed Druids are the first modern spiritual Druid movement to:
Ordain women as clergy
Elect women to the highest level of leadership
Ordain transgender clergy
Elect transgender clergy to the highest level of leadership
Embrace racial diversity up to the highest level of leadership by merit of their character.
In our continuing and evolving traditions, we create an empathetic environment of celebration, learning, and reverence that can be applicable to all regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexuality, socioeconomic class, age, disability, veteran status, or religion. Anyone can be a Druid.
With so many companies and organizations dropping their DEI policies, and as someone who is intersectional as a multiethnic, spiritual, and gay minority, the next four years are going to be beyond frustrating for me and many of my friends. Thus, as someone who also runs a Druid Grove, I have resolved to create a DEI statement for my Grove, signaling a safe space for any minority and to give the middle finger to the haters. -John the Verbose
Been a while since I’ve done a selfie. Just nabbed a table 30 minutes early for Oakdale Grove’s “Feast of Gratitude” at the Perkins in New Brighton. Find us in the solarium; there’s room for more! We’re here from 1 to 3 pm today, and visitors can join us!
Hello! When do you guys next to me? I'm interested in checking out the group.
Hey there, sorry I missed this message until now. I haven't been as active on Tumblr lately, but we're actually having a casual hangout today (Saturday Oct 5) at 1 PM at Locke Park in Fridley, doing a tree identification hike. Locke park is pretty big, but we're meeting at the picnic shelter area and setting forth on the trail from there.
After that, our next event would be our Samhain ritual on November 2nd (EDIT) October 26th at 1 PM at Roseville Central Park at the fire pit.
We also keep the events page up to date on our website, usually updating it once or twice per month at oakdalegrove.org/events.html
Hello, my name is Jax (they/them) and I’m raising funds for my top surgery in August after life has t… Jax Kinniburgh needs your support for
Hey everyone,
Sharing this link on behalf of a dear my friend and Grove member who is raising funds for top surgery and peace of mind after both their cats required vet care and passed away in quick succession, eating their savings. Even reaching half the goal would allow them to confirm the surgery date. Thanks for sharing and helping, any assistance has the utmost appreciation!
an RDNA druidry newsletter driven by reader contributions
The latest issue of C.OR.D. Biquarterly Druidry Newsletter is now live for Beltane!
Highlights in this issue:
Happy RDNA New Year!
News from the Groves
Devotionals and a recipe
Free study program goes live
Seasonal photography
@deckdancer and I were conversing this evening, and he had this question about mass farming practices. My response ended up being a little lengthier than I anticipated, but I was also trying to be concise (which is hard for John the Verbose, lol)
I've been having a lot of thoughts about plants and mass farming practices tonight, and while I know horticulture isn't exactly your specialty, I wanted to hear your thoughts on the disconnect between the symbiosis of nature vs the mass farming practices we use today, and their effects on us today as a society?
One thing I've noticed over the last 10 years is how stressed the corn fields look when we've had year after year of drought conditions. The leaves curl along the edges and look like dessicated spears. Corn is a huge water hog, and an inefficient hog at that. Most of the water is ultimately lost to evapotranspiration meaning the water table doesn't even recharge at all from irrigation.
So much of that corn goes to ethanol plants and livestock feed, so it still has a high demand, but many of the crops just die or are stunted before they can be used. Before irrigation technology was widespread, places like Minnesota grew more wheat. Minneapolis was (and still is) where so many big flour mills are, but now the wheat grain comes in from the high plains. Wheat is what we should be growing for our climate already, but corn became popular because of irrigation. Wheat uses much less water, and some cultivars can be harvested twice a year.
Factory farming of corn has changed noticeably in my own lifetime. I remember the rows used to be a bit farther apart. You could run between the rows and pretend to be the "children of the corn." My dad said he could remember when he was younger there were much wider gaps in the rows of cornfields. We've bred them for higher yield and to be planted closer together that both of those factors mean they need much more water than they used to. Some farmers plant rows so close together you almost can't walk between them now.
A lack of diversification is also a problem as well. The past three years have been really bad for corn, but for many farmers, it's their cash crop. Soy beans have become a novelty... alfalfa a rarity... and I'm shocked if I ever see any wheat at all. Monoculture crops (even beyond grains) are begging for any one-off minor catastrophe to jeopardize the whole crop. If a plant disease or infestation pops up, it will spread much faster than if we had varied crops, and of course it would have a more detrimental effect if that one monoculture crop gets destroyed. Palm oil farming is another example of a fragile monoculture.
Diversification is easier said than done though. You can't use a single type of harvester machine for all crop types. The Cherokee would plant things together: Corn, pumpkins/squash, and vine beans. They understood for generations that those "Three Sisters" thrived better together than by themselves. The beanstalks would climb the corn, the beans would put nitrogen and nutrients back in the soil, and the squash/pumpkins would reduce evaporation from the soil. The large gourd leaves would reduce the amount of sunlight on the ground, inhibiting weed growth. All that today would still require harvesting by hand, and unfortunately it is considered too unprofitable. It would be suitable for people with gardens, self-sufficient homesteads, or small-scale farms (and we gotta WANT to get into that, too).
The big problem is (I think) that first we would need a large-scale, multifaceted cultural shift. Ethanol as biofuel is not as sustainable as the industry wants us to believe. As much as I love beef, we gotta reduce our consumption of large livestock. Cattle need a lot of corn and a lot of water. Other farm animals are more efficient in terms of resources required per pound of meat. That's a statement that sounds great for reducing corn and water usage, but other monoculture crops have their own unique pros and cons.
an RDNA druidry newsletter driven by reader contributions
Good afternoon, C.O.R.D. Biquarterly druidry newsletter readers!
At this time we are kindly requesting any multimedia content for our upcoming Oimelc issue that you have the rights or permission to share (exception for YouTube videos of druidic interest).
Oimelc is crafting season! What do you craft?
Experiencing any photogenic weather extremes this El Niño?
Devotee of Brigid? We'd love to hear about it!
Kind reminder you need to use the linked submission forms
Whether it's news of your Grove/Protogrove/solo practice, your poetry, seasonal photography, seasonal recipes, personal milestones, relevant product or book reviews, musings, meditations, devotionals, divinations, etc, we encourage you to share it in the next newsletter if you feel so inclined! Got an Etsy storefront for metaphysical supplies you provide? We even have some free promo space in the newsletter just for that. Please ensure that all content is "PG-13" or tamer.
The "liveline" (because deadline sounds so un-reformed!) is roughly: One week from the timestamp of this post (this time next Wednesday)