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.
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