Druidry and Druidism for Beginners

[Jembru]

Re: Druidry and Druidism for Beginners

~~Excerpts from Druidcraft

[thalassa]

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!

[thalassa]

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.)