Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for March, 2013

Meditation Journal – Week 18

Posted in Dedicant Path Essays, Meditation Journal, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Four sitting meditations this week, about 20 minutes each time, usually focused on breath, or on trees. I also did the Two Powers in two of them, near the end once I was feeling settled. I tried out a new meditation as well, from a book I’ve been reading about mindfulness. Basically it’s a mindful body scan, breathing in and out of your body from head to foot. I’ve been doing this at night as I’m getting ready to fall asleep, and I think I like it.

Did Tea with the Kindreds on Sunday as well, and I think that went well. It wasn’t as conversational as past weeks, but I didn’t feel like I had as much to say (if that makes any sense). I lit cedar incense, since that seems to be a favorite, and shared a mug of tea.

The connection with the spirit that has been visiting in my meditations comes and goes – I’m trying to find ways to reach out that result in more contact, and trees seem to be a good way to do that. I’ve had several mental images of trees come up when I’ve been meditating, so I’ve tried to continue that theme. I’ve also had mental images of an area I spent a lot of time as a child. In the house I spent my elementary years in, we had a large, heavily wooded area at the back of the yard, and there was a small clearing there, near the edge. I used to call it my “nature sanctuary”, and I’d play and make little nature offerings there – which is pretty pagan, but my parents must have just thought it was cute. Anyway, I’ve had that place come to mind several times as well, which has been comforting in a way. Whoever this spirit is, He has a strong connection to trees and nature in some way.

Read Full Post »

Rune Reading: Looking at my Path

Posted in Runes, tagged , , , , , , , on March 7, 2013| 5 Comments »

Since I’ve been thinking about where I fit into ADF, and what my future paths will be and how those are or aren’t affected by ADF, I thought I’d try doing a more introspective sort of Rune drawing. Normally I use a set of cedar runes that I got from The Magical Druid, but I had the inspiration while I was away from home, so I tried a drawing with the app Runes, by Netistry.

I thought for awhile on how to phrase a question. What I want is insight into where I am on this path, and where I’m supposed to be going. So I ended up doing just that – asking the runes for insight into my spiritual path. It’s not the most specific of questions, but I couldn’t find anything more focused that still had the same feeling to it. I guess I wanted to leave the question a bit open ended and see what happened.

These are the runes that I drew:

  • Jera – Year, the harvest, hard work – Each is given their proper due in full measure, good or ill. The golden crop, sown in the past, has come to fruition and is now the full harvest; the results of earlier efforts are realized. Natural cycles will always spin, and the year will always turn again, but for now all is well. The order of the cosmos is maintained, and everyone reaps the benefits of hard work and has a chance to build a new harvest for next year.
  • Ehwaz – The horse, transportation, an easy journey – Mind your connection to animal spirits as helpers and partners. Successful partnerships require care and respect – neglect your allies at your peril. Keep a level head and do not be reckless – gradual change and continued progress is at hand, and will lead you to your goals. Remember that you travel with help, and those allies can make the journey easy for you.
  • Sowilo – The sun – Energy, clarity, and satisfaction. In the absence of obstacles and distractions, realize that your sustained, focused efforts have resulted in success. In the light of the sun, you can see to the horizon. The Sun’s power is available to you to make changes that will lead to renewed life and victory. Wholeness; all is right with the world.

I’ll be honest, getting such an unabashedly positive reading startled me at this point. I’ve been floundering a little with regards to what path I should take and where I should go, and I’ve not had hugely positive readings when I’ve asked similar questions over the last year or so. I try not to do this reading too often, so I don’t get weird results, but every few months or so I’m trying to check in and see what I’m missing, or need to be paying attention to, or how I’m doing. This is the first time I’ve drawn an entirely positive spread for this, which hopefully means that things are looking up, and I’ll be able to get some clarity and sense of feeling settled in.

If I apply a “past, present, future” template to this reading, it actually makes a lot of sense.

You did a lot of spiritual work in the past, it was very good, and it has allowed you to move on into a new “harvest” for the future. Use your allies and those around you to help you and guide you on this path, and all of your efforts will be successful in the end.

Of course, there’s no definite answer to what success actually IS in this situation, being that I asked a really open ended question, but for now I’m content with the idea that I’m moving in the right direction, and that the work I’m doing isn’t going unnoticed. I can’t say for sure that this reading is ADF specific, since I didn’t ask the question that way, but I think it suggests good things to come, and that I’m doing the right thing (for now) in studying and working on this path.

Read Full Post »

Playing at Druidry

Posted in Dedicant Path, tagged , , , , , on March 6, 2013| 3 Comments »

SwampDruid: @chronarchy just gotta find a place to plug in, I guess. Also too much “work” and not enough play, I think
chronarchy: @SwampDruid There is always too much work, and not enough play 🙂

As I’ve gotten more and more involved with my Dedicant Path work, I’ve let it become exactly that. Work. Which, of course, it is – important work, and good work. But coming at it with the attitude that it is “work that must be done” is a little stifling.

I’ve been working on my Vision essay (that posted yesterday) and I think that play needs to be part of my vision. It’s so easy for this to be so very very serious all the time, and while I definitely think there is a time to be serious, there is also a time for laughter and childlike wonder at the world that we are supposedly so in love with and tasked with caring for.

One of the things I’ve experienced very strongly with the presence who has been visiting me during certain meditations is a feeling of laughter. It wasn’t expected, really, and I’ve come to find it to be very comforting. It’s not a mean spirited laughter, but a kind, warm, welcoming laughter at my continually serious attempts to make contact.

I am, it seems, trying too hard.

I’m going to work more on letting go and allowing the playful side of Druidry to happen for me, whether that’s just being outside and laughing at the squirrels in my yard, or hugging trees, or talking to the myriad lizards around my house. There is so much potential for wonder and laughter, and I’m not finding much of either recently, and I think I need to refocus to include more of that.

I’m not sure exactly HOW to do that, but it’s something I want to have more of in my Druidry.

Read Full Post »

Virtue Essay: Vision

Posted in Dedicant Path Essays, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

From Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:

VISION
1

  • a : something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy; especially : a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation
  • b : a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination
  • c : a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial <look, not at visions, but at realities — Edith Wharton>

2

  • a : the act or power of imagination
  • b (1) : mode of seeing or conceiving (2) : unusual discernment or foresight <a person of vision>
  • c : direct mystical awareness of the supernatural usually in visible form

3

  • a : the act or power of seeing : sight
  • b : the special sense by which the qualities of an object (as color, luminosity, shape, and size) constituting its appearance are perceived through a process in which light rays entering the eye are transformed by the retina into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve

4

  • a : something seen
  • b : a lovely or charming sight

From Our Own Druidry (82)

Vision: The ability to broaden one’s perspective to have a greater understanding of our place/role in the cosmos, relating to the past, present, and future.

Vision strikes me as a complicated concept as a virtue since it has so many potential meanings, from the ability to see physically to a more intangible ability to dream and plan for the future. I really like how the ADF definition of this virtue incorporates many of the dictionary definitions in a succinct way – it’s both the physical act of seeing and the spiritual act of foresight and discernment (there’s wisdom again), combined with placing ourselves in the greater path of the Kindreds and the cosmos. I especially like the idea of vision as a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial, since I see my work as a Druid being one of manifesting the immaterial in material ways. Rituals – both big and small – take the forms and ideas about the Kindreds and the Cosmos and make them present as material realities: Fire, Well, and Tree, offerings and blessings.

Vision is more than just divination (though that is definitely part of it). It is the integration of the past, present, and future into a path that can be traveled. There is also an element of challenge to vision, that it expects a lot from us, and does not shy away from the difficulties that create growth.

Part of me suspects, though, that this virtue gets a little bit of abuse in the form of “ADF’s greater vision” – I don’t think that individual Druids, while still displaying the virtue of Vision, will necessarily come up with things that are similar to the core “vision” of the ADF organization and it’s leaders/founders. I don’t know that I always display vision particularly well, and I think group vision is important, as we seek to find ourselves in relationships with each other as well as with the greater beings in the Cosmos, but I don’t think we all have place the same weight on each defined goal to work together in ways that are constructive. As well, I think this virtue means as much our own vision for ourselves as it does our visions as a group.

Read Full Post »

Weekly Rune Drawing – March 4

Posted in Runes, tagged , , , , , , , on March 4, 2013| 2 Comments »

Last week’s rune was Dagaz – the rune of daylight and hope. Aside from an amusing (and frustrating) correlation to problems I had with the power company on Tuesday (whereby I literally had to deal with “the lights”), I’m not sure I get a strong feeling where this rune applies to last week. There are a few situations that are minorly improving or showing signs of awareness of a need for improvement, but no great realizations or hopefulness or anything. Perhaps drawing the rune was little more than a joke about keeping the lights on.

This week’s rune is Berkano: Birch, Strength, Flexibility, Resourcefulness

      The poplar bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers,
   for it is generated from its leaves.
   Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned
   its lofty crown which reaches to the skies. – Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem

This is the rune of resourcefulness and making something from nothing, and Rev. Dangler speaks of it as the rune of “female strength” (Very Basics of Runes 47). It speaks of birth and rebirth, and physical or mental growth. There is also an element of strength and pride to this rune meaning, alongside the current of fertility and creativity, that you can see in the last two lines of the rune poem. I see self-sufficiency as well, in the first lines of the poem (the tree that brings forth new trees generated from its own leaves).

I have a scheduled “girl’s date” this week that I hope will be reflected in this poem – though admittedly that will be a gathering of female strength and about sharing our burdens and working together as much as it will about self-sufficiency. The self-sufficiency aspect I hope will be more reflected in my work this week, as I could use a dose of this sort of energy in my professional life in a big way. Hopefully both of those will come about this week.

Read Full Post »

Meditation Journal – Week 17

Posted in Dedicant Path Essays, Meditation Journal, tagged , , , , , , on March 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Three sitting meditations this week, plus tea with the kindreds. Nothing particularly noteworthy about any of it. I’m becoming more sure of the spirit that has been visiting during my meditations, though I didn’t feel like I made particularly strong contact this week.

I think mostly this exercise has become very perfunctory – I’m doing the exercises to complete a requirement, but I’m not getting a ton out of it right now, because I haven’t had a ton to actually put into it. This is a common thread in most of my practice of Druidry over the last few weeks, related directly to other things in my life. I’ve got some thoughts about that to post later.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts