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Posts Tagged ‘Druidry’

Secret Druid Tip: Front Door

Posted in Seasonal Things, Secret Agent Druid, tagged , , , , , , on December 7, 2012| 1 Comment »

Buy (or even better, make) a wreath for each season. Celebrate changing the wreath as you prepare for and celebrate the High Days and the changes that occur in nature. Wreaths of greenery are available right now and are a good way to bring evergreens into your home. For Imbolc you might have a wreath of red, orange, and white bows, and then for Ostara a wreath with early spring flowers and colored eggs.

This works in a dormitory or a shared apartment as well – you can get little hangers that go over the door and hang the wreath inside! (I used to do this in the dorms at school. It always made my door stand out and look festive!) I actually use one of those hangers for my front door, since it has a large glass panel. You could also put a nail in the wall above your altar and make a tiny wreath as a rotating wall decoration.

For the Druid on a budget, check craft stores right around or just after the major holidays. Small grapevine wreath blanks are inexpensive, and once the major holiday is past, you can often get nice flowers and wreath decor for heavily discounted prices. I store my wreaths in an old packing box standing up on end with pieces of cardboard between them. Stalk the ribbon clearances as well!

If you’re lucky, you might even get birds nesting in the wreath! I watched a pair of wrens raise a clutch just outside our front door last year, and it was really very special.

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Morphic Resonance in Druidry

Posted in General Things, tagged , , , , , , on December 6, 2012| 5 Comments »

One of the things I’ve always found interesting is the idea of Morphic Resonance as it relates to thought processes and rituals. Morphic Resonance is Rupert Sheldrake’s idea that as something happens repeatedly, it creates a field that future occurrences can tune in to. While I’m pretty sure this is not something I can believe about biology or chemistry (since the claim is unfalsifiable), it’s something I’ve always wondered about in the metaphysical realm.

It’s something I’ve felt in the past during certain rituals as well. There is a concept in parts of Catholicism that one of the reasons everyone celebrates the same Mass is so you can tap into the togetherness of all the other people in the world who have been, are, or will be celebrating it.  The same goes for Wicca, especially when you consider that a circle is a place that exists outside of time. If the job of a Witch is to turn the Wheel, it makes sense that all the solitary (and coven-based) Witches can turn the wheel “together” while they’re in their separate circles. There’s a lot of power that way.

So how does this all relate to Druidry?

Well, with the concept of the Gate being at the center of all time and space, there’s definitely an element of morphic resonance there. Not having a unified ritual is a little harder though, and I have definitely felt more “on my own” during Druidic rituals than I ever did working as a solitary Witch, even though both were done entirely solitary. I think part of this is also that so many Druids worship so many different Gods from such diverse times and places. There’s not a strong current of unified worship so much as just a unified holiday.

I am hoping, as I develop more of a sense of the Gate and it’s ability to center a ritual in metaphysical space, I’ll feel more connected to other Druids who are doing their rituals, and that my Gate will feel connected to all the other Gates at the Holy Days. I intend to focus some of my energy on that feeling during my Yule ritual, since I know we’ll all be celebrating around the same time.

I also definitely feel that there is a possibility for certain morphic currents in some of the invocations and prayers of ADF. As I use the same invocations over and over, I’ll end up creating my own currents as well as, ideally, tying into the currents that other members of ADF have set up.

This is part of why I’m a fan of a combination of both structured and spontaneous prayer. Structured, repeated prayers have the ability to set up your subconscious in such a way that you know what’s coming. If you use the same invocation, or the same cues for meditation, your subconscious begins to get the idea that “this means it is Ritual/Meditation/Sleep/Dancing/Divination/Waffles time“. (OK, maybe not waffles, unless you eat waffles regularly. Which you should, because waffles are delicious!)

Anyway, those subconscious cues also help to set up a predictable energy current that you can tap into with each repetition of a ritual element.

This also helps the Gods understand what you want. Using their historical names brings precedent – if you use the name or epithet that a Goddess has been using for millenia, you place yourself among the historical worshipers of that Goddess. If you write your own prayer, and then use it as your invocation to the Ancestors in each ritual, they’ll learn that that prayer comes from you (or whomever you share it with) and both you and they will deepen your understanding of what’s expected of each other through its use.

Of course there’s a time and place for spontaneous, offertory, from-the-heart prayer as well. I like to use structured prayer to set up the connection and spontaneous prayer to sustain and nourish it. The balance is key, for me. That structured prayer is where you find the connection with what other Druids and Pagans have done in the past.

All this to say that I’m working on tapping into the morphic resonance that exists around Druidry. ADF is new, so the morphic currents are newer and fresher, but I think they exist, and I want to learn to feel and be part of them, and add my voice to those currents. With our ties to the past, it’s possible that, through meditation and study, I’ll be able to tap into some of the Paleo-pagan resonances as well, and that would be amazing.

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Pagan Friendships and Mentors

Posted in Dedicant Path, General Things, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 5, 2012| 3 Comments »

I’ve been reading Drawing Down the Moon as the next book in my DP studies, and I recently finished with the section on Feminist Craft.

While I have never been part of that aspect of Paganism, that section of the book brought to mind how much I have valued the women mentors and friends I’ve made in Paganism, by extension the male mentors and friends I’ve had as well. Something about that section emphasized community and growth and mentorship in a way that made me really think back on and value the people I’d worked with. I’ve been lucky enough to have really good Pagan friends – never very many at one time, but a few that I could really open up to, and those people are really special to me.

I’ve also always had the luxury of having someone who acted as a mentor to me in the Paganism, and right now I’m feeling a little like that’s missing. ADF is more self directed than my previous forays into Paganism, especially given my reticence to approach my local grove. I’m still waiting on my assignment of a mentor for the DP. (I emailed the preceptor a month ago, and emailed to get an update this week, but I’ve not heard anything back at all.) While I know that an automatically assigned mentor isn’t necessarily going to be someone I can turn to immediately, I’m hoping I can build a relationship that will help guide me through this process.

I think best in conversation, and I’m very lucky to have a very good friend who has been involved in Paganism (of some flavor or another) for a long time. He’s currently closest to being Asatru, but is familiar with and has worked with ADF in the past, and he’s been a sort of sounding board for a lot of my thoughts. He puts up with my random text messages about Druidry, for which I’m very grateful. There’s really a lot of power and comfort in sitting down with someone you trust and just seeing what comes out of your brain.

I’m also building a relationship with my Regional Druid, who has been extremely helpful in letting me bounce ideas off her and giving me much-desired feedback on my Druidic musings and first steps.

The structure of ADF has been very welcoming in general, and I’ve had several people email me in welcome over the last month. Now I just need to build on those relationships and hopefully build some spiritual friendships with the various members of ADF. I find those kinds of friendships to be good for my connection to the Kindreds – having, as it were, a kindred spirit to talk with and share experiences with.

Obviously I’m not in a position right now to be a mentor or teacher for ADF – I’m still way too new. But maybe I’ll be good enough to mentor other Druids someday.

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Meditation Journal: Week 5

Posted in Dedicant Path Essays, Meditation Journal, tagged , , , , , , , on December 3, 2012| 1 Comment »

This weeks “little” meditations went well – I’m definitely seeing stress reduction from just 2 or 3 minutes of focused, counted breathing. I tried adding words to some of my longer meditations, instead of counting. So instead of in 4, hold 2, out 4, hold 2, I did Fire-and-well (inhale), and (hold), Sac-red-Tree (exhale), (pause) – almost like a slow chant in my head. I also added a visualization to this exercise, placing myself in a grove of trees with a well and a fire at the center, next to a large, sprawling, ancient oak. Various animals show up in this exercise (or sometimes none at all), but usually those that I have a connection with, either as Nature Spirits (owl, rabbit, toad) or as Deity (stag).

I’ll definitely continue to do this, as I find it more centering than the counted breaths. I may also do this with a mala or some prayer beads to count repetitions instead of using the meditation timer on my phone.* It might also be fun to look up other mantras to use, or to come up with some.

I still need to look more into adding trance-like meditations. Maybe it’s time to start really working with the Two Powers meditations, or look into some guided meditation journeying.

*I use the meditation app “Meditator“, which has some nice features and chimes in such a way that it’s not disruptive. It also will do “intermediary” tones, so you can do a 10 minute meditation with a soft “reminder” tone every 2 or 2.5 minutes, for example. I’m a fan.

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Secret Druid Tip: Password

Posted in Secret Agent Druid, tagged , , , on November 30, 2012| 1 Comment »

At work, I have to change my password every 90 days, which is just about right in time with the changing seasons.  For a daily (or multiple times per day) reminder, make your password a cue to take a deep breath and remember your connection to the season and to nature.

This has the added benefit of helping you remember what your password actually is.

Note: If your IT department sometimes requires your password to access or troubleshoot your computer, choose seasonal, rather than holiday, passwords. Not that I expect my IT department to know what Imbolc is, but it’s still easier to explain SpringFlowers.

Also Note: This is how I come up with the BASIS for my passwords. Obviously most passwords are required to contain special characters and numbers, but there are lots of ways to add those in, once you have a good, rememberable base word.

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Druid Altar Styling

Posted in Dedicant Path, Dedicant Path Essays, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 28, 2012| 8 Comments »

I’ve had an altar of some form or another in my home for quite some time (right now, I actually have two). ADF style rituals have specific things they need in terms of supplies and bowls, receptacles for offerings, and representations of the Fire, Well, and Tree. As such, before I did my Samhain ritual I went and did some altar styling to give myself a better workspace for ADF rituals.

This is the result (more or less):

My World Tree is pretty obvious – that’s a piece of driftwood that I found on a local beach. In front of that is my Well, a hand carved bowl from South Carolina. And then two representations of Fire in front of that – the three candle cluster and an incense burner. Those three items set up the ADF cosmos for each ritual. (I do not always leave the World Tree standing up, as it’s not super stable that way and is a bit off balance.)

There is a clear glass vase for holding liquid offerings, plus an offering bowl and a cup to drink from. The offering bowl and the cup are a matching set that I’ve had for years, and I like that they match. My offerings to the Kindreds go in a vessel that matches the vessel they give me the Blessings in.

The two taper candles are there for extra light and because I like candles. Also on the altar are some owl figurines, a Nature Spirit I’ve long had associations with (along with Toad and Rabbit), plus a little green man figurine, a big wooden acorn, a sand dollar, a holey stone that a friend brought back for me from a trip to the Middle East, and an aspen-leaf candle holder. These are all things that have spiritual significance for me, though I do eventually want to get some small shelves to get the figurines up off my working space.

The altar itself is a wooden cube bookshelf I got from (I think) Target, and I store all my Pagan and magical supplies in the closed baskets, with assorted books in the other open shelves. This sits in my craft room/spare bedroom, so it has to be dismantleable in a short time in case of guests. It pretty easily turns back into a bookshelf top with some assorted candles on it without much trouble.

Since I’ve used the altar a few times now, I’ve already made a few changes. I moved the offering bowls and offering pitcher to the right side of the Fire, so that I can pour offerings without setting my arm hair on fire (that smelled lovely, let me tell you). I also now have a set of wooden oghams, and those live on the upper left side of the altar most of the time as well, for daily drawings. I also added the two woodburned world tree symbols that I got from the Magical Druid. They sit to either side of the tall World Tree.

I do my sitting meditation on the floor in front of this altar, sitting on a big floor pillow. I often burn incense, and that creates a nice ambiance. Because it’s a bookshelf, I have to stand for rituals, so I’ve taken to putting my scripts in a small binder that I can hold with one hand. It lives in the open cube on the left hand side.

Overall I think it’s a functional altar, if not super elegant. I’d like to have a bigger working space eventually, ideally one that I could use outside, since a real fire would be nice for burning offerings. As it is, if I give spirits to the Shining Ones, they go in the same offering bowl with everything else, so I tend to give offerings of good incense to them. I’d also like a more proportional World Tree, so perhaps I’ll do some work with the driftwood one and trim it down and make a nice base for it. I think it’s a good Tree, just a little out of proportion with the rest of my space!

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The Magical Druid Shop

Posted in General Things, Ogham, tagged , , , , on November 27, 2012| 3 Comments »

I put in an order recently to The Magical Druid shop and have been really pleased with my decision to do so.

Not only did I get timely updates to my order (one of the items I ordered had to be hand made after I ordered it, so it took a little longer), but the items are beautiful and well made. I now have two small, wood burned World Trees, made from pieces of branches, to set on my altar, as well as an absolutely beautiful set of mahogany oghams. I also ordered some incense, but that’s mostly because I love incense, not because I truly needed any more. It’s a weakness, but I do burn it quite frequently.

The oghams came in a very plain linen bag. I’ve used them several times, and they’re smooth and well made. The symbols are clear, and so far they’re reading well for me. It’s really nice to have nice tools, and I’m doubly glad to have purchased them from a shop run by ADF members. They also used recycled packaging, and I’ve since repurposed the box they sent my items in as well. Recycling is good! Nature is good!

I highly recommend The Magical Druid to anyone, not only for the personal service but for the beautiful things they offer and for supporting a small Druid-run business.

Disclaimer: Nobody at the Magical Druid has any idea who I am. They are not paying me to say this.

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Secret Druid Tip: Holiday Feasts

Posted in Secret Agent Druid, tagged , , , , , on November 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Since this week I am celebrating Thanksgiving with the rest of the United States, our Druid Tip is related to family gatherings and big feasts.

When you spend a lot of time making a big meal, consider taking a little bit of it outside as a sacrifice to your local Nature Spirits and Land Spirits.

I have an old stump in a corner of my yard where I like to leave food offerings to the local spirit life. Even if you live in an apartment, you can put a little bread with peanut butter out for the birds, or leave a little offering to the critters who might stop by in one of the green spaces of the apartment complex. Remembering the local spirits when you’re having a big feast is another little way to bring Druidry into your life.

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Thinking about ADF Druidry

Posted in ADF, Dedicant Path, tagged , , , , on November 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

So I’ve been doing this ADF thing for a month, working my way through the Dedicant Path requirements, and I’m finding that there are some things about this process and this path that I really enjoy.

Obviously, the reverence for nature is a big one. I love that Nature – and the Nature Spirits – are a big part of practicing Druidry, and I’m encouraged by the focus on getting outside and being aware of nature in the place where you live. I’m a suburban druid, so there is definitely nature around, and it’s not too far for me to get to a large nature preserve. I’ve spent a few afternoons sitting by the bayou and just absorbing nature and watching the birds and lizards and fish. It’s nice to have that reverence for nature built into the Druid path as a critical part of spirituality. (This isn’t unique to Druidy, and many other Pagan paths also emphasize nature. I just really like this part!)

I also really like the flexibility of the Dedicant Path. Yes, I’m loosely following the Wheel of the Year book, but loosely is definitely the key word there. I’m taking the WOTY book as guidelines and a roadmap, but I’m forging my own path through, especially since I’ve already started or completed some requirements that I “shouldn’t have gotten to yet”. The requirements for the DP are very flexible, and I can see how each person who submits one for approval is going to submit something very personal and different. The questions are all geared to helping you identify “Your Own Druidry”, instead of having you regurgitate what’s in the manual or website information.

At the same time, I appreciate the emphasis on scholarship, at least so far as it can inform your worship of the Kindreds. I like mythology and learning about where and how these Gods and Goddesses were originally worshiped, and what kind of social structure they fit in. I’m not a reconstructionist though, I’m definitely a modern Pagan, looking for a spirituality that fits into my modern life. The balance between scholarship and modern application is one that I really appreciate, and something that I strive to find in my own spirituality.

That said, I’m a little confused about the role of some of the Gods and Goddesses in ritual, but I suspect that will clarify more as I learn more about Them and Their historic worship.

I talked before about my search for a magical system within ADF, and have subscribed to the Magician’s Guild email list. Obviously I’m not going to start working on their study program until I’ve completed the DP (too many projects all at once), but I’m hoping to find out more about how ADF handles magic. If it’s not something I like or think I can work with, I will just continue to work my traditional magic on my own, separate from my practice of Druidry.

I really like that it’s OK for me to do that; there is no law in ADF that says the ADF way is the only way to do things, or even that all members of ADF must do only ADF style rituals or magic. That’s the flexibility aspect again, and as someone who comes to ADF with some already formed preferences about magic and working with the Otherworld, I like that I don’t have to give up on things that I know will work for me. I’m definitely going to give the ADF style a try – that’s what this year on the Dedicant Path is for, after all – but I like that if it doesn’t suit my own way of doing things, I’m not locked into a practice I dont like. Even the Dedicant Path only requires that you follow the COoR for 4 of your 8 High Day rites!

I’m sure I’ll have other thoughts as I process my way through the Dedican’t Path. I’m about 1/4 through my second book (Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon), and finding that there were both a lot of things I knew and a lot of things I didn’t know about the modern Pagan movement. Reflections on this book should be interesting, given my background.

For now, though, I’m really enjoying this path of Druidry. It’s not immediately home, and there are some points that stick out at me, but on the whole, I think I’ll enjoy my year as a Druid. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up staying!

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Secret Druid Tip: Commute

Posted in Secret Agent Druid, tagged , , , on November 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Most of us have a daily commute, whether on foot, on a bike, in a car, or on a bus. This Secret Druid Tip is a challenge to find a bit of nature on that commute – even if it’s just the weeds in the sidewalk – and recognize the Nature Spirits that live there. Say hello to them, watch how they change over the course of a week or a month. If you can, bring a little offering – a silver bead for a little stream, a bit of clean water for some weeds, a pecan for a squirrel. See if this helps you feel more in tune with the Nature Spirits around you.

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