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  • #16
    Re: Druidry and Druidism for Beginners

    Originally posted by thalassa View Post
    ~~Excerpts from Druidcraft by Philip Carr-Gomm on the subject of “The Law of the Returning Tide.”. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Wicca and Druidry both (its a book that works on reconciling the two into a cohesive synchronism, which isn't hard) or with experience in one and interest in the other…the quotes are part of a larger, quite excellent section of the book. But I just had to share it, as I find this take on the Law of Return extremely well expressed.
    Thank you so much for sharing that. I'm actually just about ready to start posting a few blogs around here in which I explain that I'm turning increasingly towards druidism. Having stripped back much of what was previously making me consider my path to be wiccan, I thought what was left was a path entirely of my own creation. Yet when I hear speakers on Druidcast discussing their practices and beliefs, I constantly find myself yelling 'that's what I believe too!'

    I'm still not comfortable with the label of 'druid' though, and I don't like the idea of having to conform to a particular system. The concept of the awen and of the 3 cauldrons are interesting to me, and I started meditating on the cauldrons, but I find myself feeling a bit excluded because I am not creative, musical or artistic in any way. There's no outlet into which I can channel some kind of divine inspiration, and that leaves me a bit high and dry.

    At the moot yesterday I began to explain my reasons for leaving paganism for a while and how I had come to despise the gods. I touched upon how shallow and unkind such notions of 'you create your own reality' actually sound to anyone other than those born into loving secure and wealthy homes, who will be supported both emotionally and financially through any of their pathetic endeavours to 'find themselves'. How unkind it is to suggest that the immense human suffering in the world is because those people didn't wish hard enough for security, religious freedom or a life free from war and poverty. To suggest that the reason someone didn't achieve their goals or dreams is because they 'did it wrong'. There is no love or spirituality in such bumper-sticker tripe.

    It was even pointed out to me that my energy appeared to change and darken when I was recalling these feelings and I was reminded that I still have a lot of healing to do before I've fully recovered from the distress those thoughts had caused me.

    It's uncanny timing then, that the very same day you should chose to share the above quote in which the author attempts to reconcile the balance between self-created reality and the reality, often unpleasant, that is forced upon us through no fault of our own!

    After the moot I went to a bookstore to find some kind of druidry 101 or something. I became breathless and felt unwell (that I eventually identified as hunger; I don't always notice when I feel hungry) just as I reached the section with the books, so I ended up leaving without anything.

    Imagine my surprise then when I checked PF on the way home and saw this post. A book exploring the common threads between a path I know very well, and a path I'm cautiously curious about seems like the ideal place to start!

    Actually, I've already ordered it, along with a book called 'The Awen Alone' by Joanna van der Hoeven (originally just because I wanted the free delivery but then I did the maths and realised I could get both books for almost £2 less if I went to private vendors and just paid for the postage).

    I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into both books. Thanks again for the strangely timely recommendation!
    夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

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    • #17
      Re: Druidry and Druidism for Beginners

      *hugs* Jem!!

      I really recommend Living Druidry and Ritual by Emma Restall Orr too, if you can get them!
      “You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom

      “We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
      ~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

      "We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
      ~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

      "Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett

      Pagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
      sigpic

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      • #18
        Re: Druidry and Druidism for Beginners

        This is one of the "first lessons" from Penny Billington's The Path of Druidry.

        Developing a mythopoetic view widens and enriches life, paradoxically resulting not in retreating into fantasy, but in embracing real life from a more mature and stable perspective.

        But before going into the landscape, start with your immediate surroundings: your home. It is a first stage of the Druid journey to make your surroundings support your studies and reinforce your idea of yourself as the Druid, and this will require you to work with a right attitude. The ideal is to perform our household duties not reluctantly, but in the spirit of Druidry, symbolising our clarity and right attitude.

        Creating a supportive space goes slightly deeper than dusting. We recognise the animate, mate, living nature of all things and this is reflected in our everyday habits. We give our possessions names, indicating our intuitive understanding of relationships. An example is the naming of houses.

        Our homes nurture us. And we tend to name other possessions that have a huge psychological value to us-such as cars, boats, or guitars-which tars-which respectively give us godlike powers of speed, freedom, and creativity. When we find ourselves automatically saying "sorry" as we bump into a table, or stroking a favourite piece of furniture, we are really on the right Druidic lines. Our homes and possessions sessions must be sympathetic to our work and lives.

        Stop, take a breath, and think for a moment of an old, treasured possession that you have named: your first car, or a favourite picture... Have you ever talked to a supposedly inanimate object in your home? Have you ever growled in frustration at a tap that soaks you or electrical goods when they go wrong? When you are ill and wrap a blanket round you, do you feel nurtured?
        She goes on to talk about ensuring the purpose of our possessions....not so much minimalism , but simplicity. That part of "the way" (my words, not hers --sometime in my head, I call it the Tao te Tree) is look beyond the human inclination of collection and learn to let go. Keep the things of significance and when the "attention and energy goes, it goes, with thanks. She also has a nice little exercise that could be expanded into a meditation or ritual for really ,*thinking* about your home and it's meaning and thanking it...which I think might make an interesting topic on its own, if anyone is interested (this conversation has been split and moved here).



        (I'll add that I am undecided as to whether or not I like this book, though I think that it is probably useful for people that are liking for a nature-centered contemporary PAH. I like some of her ideas and exercised, then I flip a page and am like "WTF". It's not a bad book, it's just a bit too much Scott Cunningham for Druids ...and this isn't really where I am, path-wise.)
        Last edited by thalassa; 26 Jun 2016, 11:30.
        “You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom

        “We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
        ~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

        "We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
        ~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

        "Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett

        Pagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
        sigpic

        Comment

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