What should I call in and what about drawing a circle?

There are lots of answers to this question and none of them wrong. There are a multitude of books on this subject and OBOD explains a way of doing this in their Bardic course. I am going to suggest, that maybe you give yourself a little time to discover and experiment with this. Try not to go rushing headlong into doing it this way or that way because someone else says so.

There is a temptation, especially when we are beginners to want to get all these things nailed down and fixed. Well, that is precisely the problem. If we do that, we don't allow ourselves to develop intuitively or give our guides, if we believe they exist, a chance to speak.  We can end up becoming rigid very quickly. If you must go out and learn a specific way of doing things, at least allow yourself to stay open enough to experiment with other ways as well.

Let me give you some examples:

If I call in the Elements and Directions, which I often do not, I attribute the North to Winter and I place the Element of Earth in the North.  Many, many people in paganism do this as well. However, there are many people who don't. My partner, simply feels this is the wrong way round for her and so organises things differently.

Very early on in my druidry, before reading anything beyond my first book, I found that, naturally and of my own volition, I called upon the Earth, Sky and Sea. To this day, this is my preferred method and I also call upon them to help with other areas of my life.

When I did start reading more about what others did, I couldn't find this written anywhere and I started to worry, I had got it wrong. However, when I tried to do it other ways, it didn't feel the same, it didn't feel right for Me.

I first heard the Earth, Sky and Sea used, some few years later, in a song by Damh the Bard.  At one of the Anderida camps I saw that he, Damh, called upon the Earth and Sea and Sky as well as the Elements.

I later discovered through a book that I was reading, that the early Celts used to call upon these three, Earth, Sea and Sky . So I was glad that in the first couple of years I had no one but my guides and intuition to rely upon.

What I did read, I read as someone not knowing a subject enough to decide whether what I was reading was something I should take as 'gospel' or not. I decided, and I would suggest it is helpful for to do the same, if you are entirely new to the whole pagan and/or druid thing, that you read widely. 

Your interest may rests in Druidry, but read up about Wicca, read about Heathens, read up about Paganism in general. Read about different eras in history and places you are drawn to. You might find, like me that you are drawn to the British Isles. However, you might have a stirring of an interest towards Brittany or you may have a desire to find out about Iceland or Norse tribes or Saxons. You may feel a pull towards Ireland or towards learning Celtic languages. You might feel compelled to learn about the Saxons. Allow yourself to go with the flow. Let your instincts guide you as opposed to the specifics in a book or advice from a frient. Obviously, sometimes your friends will help you with good advice but sometimes you can end up cloning yourself on the way your friends do things. This path is yours, and only you can journey it.

Ultimately, what I feel is fantastic in Druidry, is also what makes it scary. There are no hard and fast rules. It is your journey through the forest. There may be people who can guide and advise but when all is said and done, it is your choice, your journey.

More about what to call in and how later.



Drawing a circle:

This is a somewhat contentious area amongst certain pagans. To me, and this again is only my opinion/experience, I am no authority beyond that, there are different circles for different needs. In the first place, for me everything in nature is sacred. I look at it through an animistic eye - that is to say - I believe all things have spirit,  whether rocks, trees, herbs etc. As such, if I am working in a place where I have worked with the spirits before or I feel safe enough and have agreed with the spirits of place that I can do a piece of work, I may just ask the spirits of three trees to hold the space for me. What I mean by that is, I may ask, for instance, the spirit of the Oak, the spirit of the Birch and the spirit of the Yew to keep me safe in this place and guard my working from prying eyes. I have been gifted during my druidry with items from the Otherworld/the Goddess who is my primary teacher. This will happen to you as you work with and develop your own journey. I may use one of these for protection if I feel it necessary.

A note about the trees, I have asked here the Bardic Birch, The Ovate Oak and the Druid Yew. However, I want to stress, again, that I will ask for guidance as to what / who I should call in for a particular working. It might be the Goddess I work with. It might be the Earth, Sky and Sea plus the Four Winds. Or it may be the spirit of the Hazel and Hawthorn and the spirit of Yarrow herb and Broom. What I am saying here, is the more you develop and trust your own intuition and listen to the guides who will help you if you ask them,the more your will trust what you know to be right for you personally. I feel a stamping up and down safety call coming on:

When I say this I do not mean that you follow blindly every guide who turns up from the Otherworld. There are those who will lead you a merry dance! Develop your own discernment using the same skills you use in life. If you went out for the day, you wouldn't take on every bit of advice that was given to you throughout the day would you? Its the proverbial 'If I told you to put your head in the over would you do it?'

That said, it is a sad fact, wherever there are people, that there are those who simply want to be lead like 'Sheep!' I have a saying, 'Sheep we're up against.' I think it is a sad side effect of many centuries of christianity where we have been asked to follow leaders, often blindly. Leaders, usually men, who have been appointed by God.' Usually not God who came down and spoke to them personally but an organisation that had supreme authority in this area.

Hopefully though, Druidry/Paganism will help you with this and to establish faith in your own truths and values and intuition as they develop.

Back to drawing a circle:

I might delineate a circle within a wider sacred space by using items gathered from around that space. E.g a feather, a stone, a twig etc. This is just to give a sense of being within a given space for a peice of working - I might use this when working with a tree for an Ogham stave or when making a tool for working, like a wand or a staff.

I might draw a circle using my finger, my wand or my staff or my imagination. I do this three times, you don't have to, do what feels right. I see a different colour each time. I might just see it sitting there or feel it enclose me. I might equally, walk a circle calling in the spirit of vine and ivy to twine and weave a circle, I might walk it again with my drum and chant. I might then walk it again with incense, cleansing the space and making ready for a specific ritual. Arguably nature does not need cleansing, however, I often do!

There are a myriad or ways you can use a circle or not as the case might be. These may differ depending on what you hope to do in your circle.

More on this later.

Druidry As Part of Your Life

Druidry isn't something you do on a Sunday and then go down the pub, satisfied that you have done your weekly duty. Druidry becomes part of you and as such, part of your every day life. You will find that as you go out in nature and connect with it on a deeper level,  you will become more concerned with the issues affecting the natural world. This may take various forms. You might decide to get rid of chemicals in your home and garden. You might take up some voluntary work in conservation. You might become interested in organic gardening and gardening with the cycles of the moon. You might become vegetarian. You might become more eco friendly in all areas of your life. In effect you will become more Concious.

Let me try and illustrate this with a little story:

There has always been a huge, Oak tree half way down the street. You have passed it nearly every day for the last 5 years, on your way to work. Sometimes, you may have admired it or used its broad canopy for shelter from the rain or as shade from the sun.

Now, it is as if you are seeing that Oak tree for the very first time. You notice its rough, strong bark and the breadth of its trunk. You wonder how old the Oak is and how much he has seen pass his way over the centuries. You notice that its leaves come later than other trees in Spring and the bright green, newness of them. You notice the full moon, as it shines its strange light through the branches, dancing on the trunk. You are filled with wonder and awe as the sun's rays reach down through the leafy canopy, dappling onto the mighty trunk.
.
Now, you notice this great Oak every day, like an old friend that you acknowledge as you walk by. You begin to notice the turning of the seasons. How the Oak looks at night, or at dusk, with its dark shadows stretching out on the ground around the base of the trunk. The Oak's majestic beauty in Winter, the dark branches spreading overhead, silhouetted against the starry sky.  The way its stark beauty continues on, deep into the Spring. How, suddenly, the leaves are unfurling and very soon, the Oak burgeons forth with life and the branches stretch like a huge, magnificent canopy of green.

One day, you walk past and the council truck is beside it, the workers busy with their machinery. Ready to chop down the great Oak in the name of progress. Plans to widen the road, to help ease the traffic at rush hour, have been passed. Orange and white plastic blockades seals off the area. The Great Oak is due for the chop. NOW you care, and really care. This is your good friend. Over the time you have shared special moments. He has shared some of his wisdom with you. Unbidden, tears of anger, bitterness and grief, prick your eyes. You shout out for them to stop.

'Sorry mate,' a man with a yellow jacket and a clip board shouts back, 'Gov'ners orders.' With that, one of the other men, pulls the cord of his chain saw, to begin on the upper branches. As the blade bites deeply about 20 feet above the  ground where you stand, you feel a white flash of pain in your head. In panic you shout again. No one is listening. You try to break through the blockade but your stopped by a surly man, with broad rimmed glasses and a yellow hat. 'Get out!' He roars, above the sound of the chain saw. You turn away bleakly, not knowing what else to do. As you leave, you whisper your goodbyes and your apologies, for not realising and doing something about it sooner.

As you trapse, slowly along the street.  You know your going to miss that Great Oak on your way to work and back. You look at the passers by, hurrying to their destinations, not noticing the death of the Oak. You sigh heavily. You know that from now on, your going to have to do something to stop this kind of thing happening again.

Sorry, this is not an Oak, as you can see, I will exchange these pictures at a later date. The file I was looking for I can't find!

This is Druidry. You don't make it happen by brute force and will. It happens slowly and subtly as you reach out to the world about you and find connections. This is a wonderful feeling. Like an awakening after a long sleep. However, now that you have awoken, you find that you start to take responsibility for what you do. Not because of a set of rules, but from an internal change from deep within you. When you feel connected, suddenly the relationship changes and you care about the impact your having on the natural world.

Druid Grove: Ritual

Druid Grove: Ritual: I know, for me, that ritual was one of the hardest parts of druidry for me to learn. My particular brand of christianity had few rituals unl...

Short and Sweet.

As as a practising Druid, at whatever stage, you will find that you change both internally and externally. These changes might be subtle and hard to express or they might be significant changes that all who know you will notice.

You, yourself, might not notice how much you are changing at the time until you look back over time and see the changes like great beacons of light.

I will give you some examples:

Tarot, with my christian upbringing and early adulthood, was an absolutely forbidden activity, even as a bit of fun. However, when I began pagan life, I became attracted to tarot, in a variety of sets.

Another example would be the blossoming of my love of herbs. I remember when I was young, I believed whole heartedly, though my upbringing went counter to this viewpoint, that as humans we were provided with all the things we needed to sustain life. I believed that somewhere, in the world, there was a cure for everything, if you could only find the right plant. I had no idea where that idea came from as I was taught to ask god for anything I needed and that sometimes experiences were punishments or meant to happen as gods will. Compared to now, that was a tiny glimmer of what would be freed within me when I opened myself to Druidry. I love herbs and all the amazing cures a tiny, unobstrusive little plant, is capable of. I get very excited with each new discovery and find it utterly awe inspiring. Now, I grow herbs, harvest them, dry them or make oils or vinegars with them and make various tincture, ointments, cough mixture and more. I love working with herbs now and couldn't imagine my life without herbs in it, though for forty odd years I didn't work with them at all!

Sadly, I must go, as I have to go to bed, but I love writing this blog and hope that somewhere, it helps others out there.

Ritual

I know, for me, that ritual was one of the hardest parts of druidry for me to learn. My particular brand of christianity had few rituals unlike the Catholic or High Church of England. As such, I spent long periods trying to apply the order from some book or other, holding the pages open so I could recite these whilst still trying to 'feel' what I was saying and the various responses from those I was calling in. I worried terribly about missing out something, fearing some dire consequence.

In fact, for a while, trying to do it this way both stopped flow and creativity and also tended to make me rigid. For some things I have a tendency to rigidity  and this made me worse! Of course, if you are an absolute novice you have no idea where to start and you look to those who do know, (or at least profess to know!) to copy. Again, in christianity, I, like many others were meant to be sheep, following blindly, those we were told were our 'leaders appointed by God' and often deemed as our 'betters!' especially if you were female.

Of course in time, as I read different books and eventually began to see others and what they did in ritual, I relaxed enough to hear and trust myself more. I began to sense what felt right to me and began to experiment with various ways of doing things. I also attended courses. One particular course helped me immensely. This was a Spirit of Druidry course ran by Rob Wilson. His way of teaching is not dogmatic and enables you to find your own way. For those interested this is the website: www.woodspirit.org.uk

With Ritual, as with all things, read what you can on the subject. Try and be aware of your own voice in this. If it sits with you, try it and if you like it, use it. Don't get bogged down though and do every ritual exactly the same way every time! Don't be afraid to experiment! There are those out there, both druid and pagan alike who may be horrified at such advice but you will only learn what is right for you by experimentation and learning to listen to your internal voice.

The best way to build confidence is to join others who are working a ritual. Then try this out for yourself. Keep checking with yourself if the words said feel right to you. There is no book of rules or though shalt nots! You will find that there are those of the Otherworld and on earth that will help you too. For me, the advice I received in the beginning came from a tree spirit. I also discovered, a Goddess was helping me. I didn't realise she was a Goddess at the time but her energy felt different, very powerful and protective. As I learned to listen - and this is imperative, I found many helpers and teachers. Some helped me with specific areas for a short period, while others helped me over a longer period and some I work with still.

If like me you have no idea where to look for these mysterious druids and even pagans per se, then the next few contacts might be useful as a starting point:

*Druid Network offers a wealth of advice and you can join as a member for a tiny amount  You don't have to be a member to read some of the pages on their website. They also run a Druid Camp every year which is well worth going to.

*Anderida Gorsedd - They run open rituals for each of the eight pagan festivals and they also run a spring and autumn camp weekends which are fabulous. However, they have very small numbers for these camps and once the tickets are sold that is it. The small numbers though, enables their bardic school, type camps to be so intimate and life changing.
 
*Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids - They run
an excellent course and a forum which contains great advice on various areas regarding Druidry. They also run camps for their members.








Some books on ritual and Druidry I would recommend would be:

Ritual - a Guide to Life, Love and Inspiration - by Emma Restall Orr

Creating Ceremony - Glennie Kindred and Lu Garner

Living Druidry - Emma Restall Orr

The Green Hedge Witch - Rae Beth

The Path through the Forest - Julie White and Graeme K Talboys

Natural Druidry - Kristoffer Hughes

The Voice within the Wind - Greywind

Singing the Soul Back Home - Caitlin Matthews

Treading the Mill - Nigel G. Pearson

Some of these books should be read again along the path. You will find, as you progress, that different aspects will reveal themselves to you later on in your journey. This is particularly true of Caitlin Matthews and Emma Restall Orr's  books. You also might find that a book you don't get on with at the beginning will be useful to you later on. I always look at the references used in a book because these may lead to other books that would be useful for you at this time in your journey.

You might notice that some of these books are not strictly about Druidry, however, the principals of respect for nature are upheld in all these books and they also allow you to see how different rituals are performed and different ways of working. It will also help you to develop your own fluidity and way of working.

The best advice I can give you though is get out in nature, out in the woods. If you have to drive to the woods, so be it. Get to the woods as often as you can and allow yourself to sit there with the trees around you and just be open to all your senses. Sit on a bench or find a little space at the base of a tree and sit there, get as near to nature as you can. Sit on the floor preferably without any synthetic protection like plastic! If you must have something beneath you, use a woven blanket in natural fibres if possible. Of course, a plastic backed picnic rug may be necessary if the ground is wet and muddy! Particularly if you are going somewhere else afterwards and can't afford to get excessively muddy.

Sit in the woods or in nature as often as possible and not just in your garden! The beach near the sea or sitting on a river/stream bank is great. If you can get your shoes off and walk in the stream then brilliant! Common sense prevailing of course.

Find a quiet spot if you can and visit it regularly, get to know the energies of the place. When you first start, this can be very helpful but try not to become rigid. This place belongs to a wealth of spirits seen and unseen. Wherever you go in nature, try to be aware of all the sounds and sights, the smells and the 'feel' of the place. If you visit a particular place often, you will begin to notice subtle changes at different times in the day and year. Don't be afraid to touch things. Close your eyes and feel the coarse bark of a tree, the knarled and twisting branches, the nodules and bumps. Take your time. Feel different types of leaves and grasses, being careful and respectful of all things. Please don't take or touch without silently checking with the spirit of the plant or tree you are approaching. You will, if you ask feel an answer. You may sense that the tree is not happy for you to be touching it or you may sense a pulling away or a sense of being allowed into its nemeton. Also, always silently thank the spirit for letting you take a leaf or sit against its trunk. As humans we have been used to stomping around as if we own the place so, taking care and being respectful may take time and practice to change. More on this later.

You might be thinking, how will this help me with ritual? Well the above will help you develop your own listening skills and will enable you to start listening internally as well as externally. This then enhances the relationship you have with the spirits in nature who in turn will help you 'hear' and feel subtle changes in temperature and responses. When working rituals, you will need these skills.
For instance, let us say you want to create an impromptu ritual in response to some beautiful scenery that you have been sitting in or have found on a walk.

You might want to check with the spirits in that place that they are happy for you to do this. If they  are you might decide to mark the area out with some peices of nature that you can find on the ground. A round stone, a grey feather, a flower that has fallen, a peice of heather (don't forget to check with the plant spirit if it is okay to take a sprig and always thank them for it or give a little gift if you have one). A gift might be some dried herbs that you bring with you for such a purpose. A small pinch will be fine with a thank you. Manners goes a long way. Alternatively, if you have developed a relationship with some particular tree spirits, you might want to ask them to hold the space for you. You may just use your body and share your energy without any particular space marked out for the purpose. You may choose to dance or chant or both. You may just find a pretty stone, and making sure again, that the spirit of that stone is happy to be moved, you might place it at the bottom of a tree you felt an affinity with or shared something with. You might just sit, filled with the wonder and awe of such beauty and spend time absorbing it. You might find a song or poem flows through you. This may be your gift to the place or you may write it down and share it with others. You may just say a few words of blessing and thanks. However small and simple or precise and complex your ritual make it yours and therefore meaningful for both yourself and the spirits you are referring to. When you have finished, always thank the spirits who you have shared this with or have called upon to help. Always close down if you have opened up something specifically and tidy away. Let there be no trace either physically or spiritually of your presence there. If you have put a circle around you or marked out a space, undo it and spiritually sweep it of any excess energy. Ask that any excess energy be absorbed into the earth and transformed into healing energy for the earth or other words of your choice. Be spontaneous, let words flow through you, listen to your inner self and any teachers whose voice you trust. More on this later.  Ground yourself. Either, sit on the floor, placing your hands on the floor as well or stand, with your feel on the earth and stamp them a few times saying, I am here, I am grounded, it is done or words to that effect. If it is possible, you can lie on the ground, in a foetal position and feel yourself fully there, know where you are , feel the earth beneath you. If you have something to eat and drink - which is preferable, share a little portion with the earth and her children and have some yourself. This will help ground you particularly if you are driving.

Celtic Languages: List of topics

Celtic Languages: List of topics: An introduction Ancient Celts before Modern Celts Modern Celtic identity and language Irish Language: from Gaeltacht to the dream of bil...

Finding a way through the Forest

There are many books out there that refer to druidry, some good, some excellent and others not so great. One fundamental point I wish to make to any beginners and people searching, is that no two journeys through the Forest of Druidry are the same. This is important! It is not about following some demi god or god  like sheep. This is  being fully awake and making independent choices about what feels right for you and what doesn't. It is also about fully informed choices and choices made from your internal knowings and intuition.

 When you are new to Druidry and, especially if you have come from a background of organised religion, it can all seem very muddly and confusing. Part of the charm, at least for me, in Druidry is its freedom, but that can also be scary.

Druidry has many facets or branches as I prefer. If you can imagine a huge knarled Oak tree, its strong branches reaching upwards and outwards. It houses a myriad of wildlife from birds and animals to tiny insects.

Imagine that the trunk represents the main similarities and tenents of Druidry as a whole and the branches are the endless ways, ideas and paths within Druidry. These varied paths will reveal themselves to you as you travel your individual path and you will make exciting discoveries along the way.

The central trunk can be said to refer to overarching tennents that most Druids would agree on - however, do not make the mistake of thinking that every Druid believes this. Druidry is fluid like a river meandering past sun spangled woodland and golden fields of corn. Rippling over rocks and pebbles and tumbling down little drops carved in the landscape like tiny waterfalls. Suddenly gathering speed as it careers towards a cliff edge and cascades in a sheet of white power down to a pool at the bottom where it whirls and circles and drops again to a pool further down. White foam spraying and thundering as it flows endlessly down and out again as the river takes up its journey cutting through field and forrest, hill and dell until it reaches the open sea.

Here are some ideas that may be held in the trunk of that Ancient Oak:

Justice - not the moralistic, manmade justice but an inner justice that incorporates everything. It is not something that is linked to right and wrong in a religious or dogmatic way. My sense of justice may be different from yours but as it evolves and throws away old teachings from culture and religions, you will find it shines clearly within you - aspects that hold true to you, values that are your own and linked to a deeper justice from the earth herself. An example would be:

When I started this journey myself, shedding some of the religious, moralistic indoctination of my religion and culture, often  painfully and slowly to begin with, I found that new ideas of justice would float to the surface from somewhere deep within myself.

 Previous to my Druidry, I was quite anti any eco friendly nonsense as I saw it then. In my, then very capitalist view of the world, I thought this was a notion brought about by the same eccentric people that spouted ridulous ideas like recycling, world peace and tree hugging. They often boasted strange hairstyles and clothes and wore jesus creepers. These same oddities of the margins walked alot whilst eating miniscule amounts of food utterly unsuitable for red blooded carnivores like me!

After my journey through the Forest began, there were subtle changes in my attitude, barely noticeable at first, like some inner force was opening my mind to feel more about the impact I had on the rest of the world. Totally unlike preaching or the incessant visual and verbal advertising of disturbing images that charities, governments and religious organisations employ to manipulate the masses. This was a gentle flow of ideas or feelings that promoted awareness within myself. These things came from inside as opposed to outside.

 Over time I developed a strong sense of injustice about what was happening to the earth and for me, the land of my ancestors - our sacred isles. Old beliefs began to loosen and detach and there were times when I felt I was out in the middle of the vast ocean in a tiny boat, spinning and tossing perilously, at the mercy of her great power. (I use she because that is what is real for me, you may feel the power as male or simply as power with no need for gender). This was because I was cut astray from all I had held dear for most of my life and these things no longer rang true for me. This can be deeply alarming, even petrifying at times but you find that you begin to take root again, in new and often beautiful ways that support not just you but all things. The earth pulls you in and holds you safe again. I discovered within myself that all things are sacred. The impact of this was huge for me. An example of this would be:
 Seeing someone deliberately and senselessly kicking and maiming a tree actually hurt me. It brought a rush of anger and outrage that made me want to rescue the tree from this onslaught.

Truth - again this is not the truths sold to us via religion, cultural upbringing and moralistic views. These are internal truths, ancient and profound truths that come as a result of the internal changes within as you move into Druidry. They are sometimes difficult to express and are often felt as knowings or wisdom that wells up from an unfathomable source. These you will discover for yourself as you journey.

Peace -  again this happens gradually and may manifest differently in each Druid. It may be an internal peace that develops. This is often felt by others who may be drawn to their calmness. Sometimes it is created within from an inner contentment and a feeling that you have arrived 'home' from your endless searching and disquiet. It may manifest as a quest to enable peace or call for peace actively in the world.

Grounded on the earth - Druidry is not the path of the spiritual guru who seeks ever higher the spiritual realms accompanied by a resolve to remove the self from earthly confines and basic needs. Neither is it a belief in a here after/heaven or navana, with life on earth as something to be endured. Druidry by contrast is living and celebrating life right now. Seeing the beauty in all living things, the smoothness of a pebble, the glistening water, the song of the black bird, the graceful flight of the raven, the crashing waves that thunder onto the beach. Not, and I stress, not because you have made yourself do this by an act of will. No! Within, you will feel a pull to life and as you journey deeper into the forest, that pull will fill you with exhilaration at times. Druidry is living life in your journey now, with all its ebb and flow, ups and downs. There is also a deeply spiritual side which you will discover, which adds to living more fully, bringing a richness to your life that is beyond words.