Hiraeth Press

One of the great features of Druidry is that it seeks to reconnect us to the sacred nature of our creativity and also to the sources that nourish, sustain and inspire it. It recognises that an intimate relationship exists between the artist’s inner life, Nature and the life of the world around them, and that this, in its deepest sense, is fuelled by the divine.

It is heartening to come across publishing companies that are in tune with this understanding of creativity and one of these is the recently born Hiraeth Press, run by Jason Kirkey, author of The Salmon in the Spring: The Ecology of Celtic Spirituality and Leslie M. Browning author of Oak Wise: Poetry Exploring an Ecological Faith. Here they explain their aims as a publishing house:

We are passionate about creativity as a means of transforming consciousness, both individually and socially.  We hope to participate in a revolution to return poetry to the public discourse and a place in the world which matters.  Of the many important issues of our times we feel that our relationship to the environment is of the most fundamental concern.  Our publications reflect the ideal that falling in love with the earth is nothing short of revolutionary and that through our relationship to nature we can birth a more enlightened vision of life for the future.  We believe that art and poetry are the universal language of the human experience and are thus most capable of transforming our vision of self and world.

They publish beautiful books and have a beautiful website. You can find them here: www.hiraethpress.com

Awen Rays over the Isle of Wight photo by Maria Ede-Weaving