Footnotes to a Spiritual Life
by ladytoad (Judith Anderson Morris)
I am Druid. I am neither wealthy nor wise, neither beautiful nor famous. I have not traveled the world nor sat at the feet of the celebrated. I have not been toasted for my achievements nor have I experienced an illustrious career. But for lack of all that, I still have an extraordinary life. I am Druid, and my life is rich with the possibilities of the ordinary.
What I offer to you are simply the footnotes. Reap from them the richness of texture, the flavor of what can be and carry away what you wish to add to your own life as a Druid.
Slow down.
Lie in bed in the light of morning and anticipate the treasures of the day. Stretch luxuriously and thank your body for its gifts. Then rise and greet the light with open arms.
Take a walk.
Watch a tree change with the seasons.
Water the garden and watch droplets bead on the leaves of plants and soak into the thirsty ground. Listen for the garden's response to your watering.
Sit alone in the sunlight and listen through the silence.
Listen to the music of a stream or fountain.
Buy fresh flowers for no particular reason but for the love of color and scent and the way they look against the backdrop of your wall. Buy them even if you have little money and be fed on their richness.
Buy a loaf of freshly baked bread and share it with the birds. Taste its rich grain and the sun and wind and rain and earth that nourished it. Pluck a tomato ripe from the vine and eat it immediately. Let the juice run down your chin.
Lie down in the grass with your ear to the ground and listen to the rhythms of the earth.
Sleep under the stars.
Lose yourself in thought.
Cup your cold hands around a warm mug and breathe with gratitude.
Choose to be cheerful, even when circumstances demand otherwise.
Determine to learn one new thing that day.
Smile at a stranger. Smile at everyone you meet today. Smile at nothing in particular.
Read something that lifts your spirits.
Yearn with holy longing to know the meaning of your life.
Fold your hands in prayer and be glad.
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I AM A MODERN DRUID.
I am a Druid. I am NOT a Wiccan, although I AM a pagan. I am not a priest because I have no interest in administering to a flock. I am a seeker, a scholar, a teacher, a sage. I am a woman (yes, there were and are women Druids, and we are subservient to no one but our gods). I don't dress in flowing robes. I don't talk as if I'm a player in a bad medieval movie. If I were walking down the street, you would never KNOW...unless you are a sensitive and can FEEL, as I do, the life-energy of others. If you visited my home, you would be struck by its warmth and creativity. You might comment on the nature-bent of the art, the dried branches of mistletoe on the wall, the sculptures of Pan, the gargoyle and the "garden god" above my fireplace, the beautiful colored bottles of powders and herbs, the many lovely and interesting stones. You would notice the sun-filled windows and views of trees and garden. You would probably think me a "nature-lover." I AM. This is my life as much as the bed I sleep in, the clothes I wear, the bills I pay, the errands I run.
Then you might peruse my bookshelves. The titles might puzzle and intrigue. Tibetan Buddhism, anthropology, Celtic history, gardening, neurology and brain studies, mythology, philosophy, alternative realities, education, world religions, herbs, magick, weather, literature, maps, art, psychology, sociology, German language, race relations, mysticism, contemporary novels. And you might wonder and dismiss mine as a curious mind give to obscure scholarship. But herein, too, lies my life...the reality of my mind.
I AM A MODERN DRUID.
We do not choose a Druidic Path; it chooses us. Usually, we are souls who have been living widdershins our entire lives...going against the grain of society. When we stumble upon the path, it is a physical and emotional relief. Suddenly we are deosil; we walk with the nature of things. We have stumbled upon Truth (or at least a small patch of it, for the Druidic quest is, indeed, a neverending search for Truth). The relief, however, is short-lived, for the path can be frightening and disconcerting. We begin to wonder what is "real."
What IS real? We are told to "get real," to "get out in the REAL world," and it all seems so simple. Reality simply IS...or is it?
America's reality is concrete, cars, skyscrapers, parking lots, malls, 9 to 5 jobs, fighting to "get ahead" of that nebulous something, making money and spending money, and on and on and on. But it is only reality because we have been brainwashed to believe that it is REAL. We have only to go to a foreign country, to see how differently lives are lived and beliefs formed, to realize that OUR reality is only one of many.
Having our reality beliefs, our paradigms...the core of our understanding of the world...shaken is what CULTURE SHOCK is all about. Once we understand that there are many cultural realities in the world, then we can begin to understand the myriad OTHER dimensions...the unseen realities in which the Druid travels.
Living in multiple realities is no easy task. I spent years learning how to live a life that is BOTH sacred and mundane simultaneously. I am willing to share that knowledge if you are willing to listen. You don't need to study ONLY Celtic history and mythology to become a Druid. In fact, if that is your limit, you cheat yourself of so many treasures in life. As I see it, my task as a Druid is:
to have a deep encyclopaedic knowledge of the many branches of wisdom, art, and science to have an ability to interrelate the many dimensions of the world
to walk the land and KNOW it
to gather scattered pieces of TRUTH and reweave all their elements into a new wholeness
to bring vision and stillness to the soul
I AM A MODERN DRUID.
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What Does It Mean to Be a Druid?
The word "Druid" is a satisfying and mysterious one. It conjures up for us mental pictures of cloaks, ritual, ceremony, power, secrecy. Druids have appeared in movies, fantasy novels, comic books, role-playing games. No wonder so many newcomers to paganism want to be a Druid with everything the name implies.
So what does it mean today to be a Druid? Just what IS the Druid path? How does one get there? What does it entail? And just how difficult is it to maintain?
There is very little accurate Druid history. Anyone who tells you that the Druids "went underground" and that he is part of an unbroken tradition of Druidism has been dreaming or imbibing a bit too much. What exists now is what we call "reconstructed" Druidism. We Druids KNOW that, recognize that, and have no need to draw on some falsely created path. We are drawing from history to create a path for the present.
There are also very few books to work from. Go to any bookstore, and you can find shelves of "how to's" on witchcraft, but Druids? Afraid not. Most Druids are too busy following their paths to worry about writing how-to manuals. What you WILL find are some excellent research books and histories that will help you to begin to understand the place of the Druids in Celtic history and in the religion of the Celts. A list of recommended texts will appear at the end of this piece.
The other place to find information on Druids is on some excellent web sites. There are a number of solid Druid organizations now who are reconstructing with fervor and an eye to excellence. These are perfect places for the person who needs the comfort and society of others to learn and worship. There are also a number of solitary sites with wonderful information. Those, too, will appear in the appendixes.
So...given all that? What IS a Druid?
Let me begin by saying what a Druid is NOT. A Druid is NOT the male priest of the Wiccans. I cannot tell you how many people over the past year or so since I have gone public on the web have tried to tell me that I cannot be a Druid because I am a female and am thus a Wiccan. Hogwash!
The Druids counted females among them, though not, admittedly, in as many numbers as males.
Secondly,Druids are NOT witches. Their basic philosophy of the world is very different from that of the witches. Witches worship an earth mother and view the godhead as male and female, a triple-aspected goddess (maiden, mother, and crone) and her consort, the horned god.
Druids see the world as earth/sea/sky -- the triple realm.
They are polytheistic and worship many gods. Some, like me, believe that there is a single divine force that is a culmination of all creation which I refer to as
the godhead. That force is neither male nor female, contains no anthropomorphic form and is grander and more powerful than all the energy in the universe and beyond. Others argue that there is only the pantheon. I see the pantheon as part of the "Old Ones," super-human beings that have existed since the beginning of time and stand apart from man, but that is my personal opinion only.
Some Druids follow a Celtic pantheon, but others, like members of ADF, embrace an Indo-European base
which widens the choice of pantheons. My personal pantheons are Greek and Celtic.
In Druidic pantheons, goddesses
with three aspects are not maid, mother, crone, but sisters.
Witches work with four elements which are invoked during ritual. Druids work with earth, air, and water with fire as the transformational force affecting all. They call on guardians and a gatekeeper during ritual and honor nature spirits, the Sidhe, and the ancestors.
Witches gather in covens and worship in small circles. Druids gather in groves and are largely tribal groups that perform public rituals.
Witches follow a rede. Druids follow tribal laws.
Witches "draw down the moon and speak as the deity."
Druids do not.
Though both practice magick,
witchcraft concentrates on spellwork; Druids do not.
A witch's knowledge is in her Book of Shadows.
A Druid's knowledge is encyclopedic and often memorized. Druids are scholars above all.
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Much of the Druid information floating around in books and on the web is romanticized fiction.
What we know about Druids:
1. the Celtic culture practiced a caste system in which the Druids were second only to the king, thus theirs was the responsibility for the entire culture, its knowledge, its history, its justice system, its ethics, its arts, etc.
2. the Druids were walking encyclopedias, followed up to 20 years of rigorous education, and were the intelligensia of the Celts
3. they were responsible for the rituals at public ceremonies and celebrations
<4. ancestor worship was important, the connection to the history of the tribe and culture absolute
5. they believed in reincarnation and were fearless about death; they believed that the veil between spirit and mundane worlds was thin and could be traversed
6. they sometimes practiced asceticism as a way to wisdom
7. they were practiced in magick, seeing, poetry, music, the arts
8. they were nature mystics
9. wisdom to the Druid meant a metaphysical awareness far above simple knowledge
10. wisdom came through self-awareness as well as natural awareness
11. Knowledge/ Nature/ Truth were the foundations of their belief system
12. the high holidays were fire festivals, occurring approximately every twelve
weeks at Samhain, Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasaad.
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So you still think you might want to be a Druid? What steps do you take?
1.
Join an established Druid group (I belong to ADF) or find a qualified private
Druid teacher. The Druid path is difficult when traveled alone.
2. Read some of the history of the Celtic peoples. Check the books and authors at the end of this lesson. Get a feel for the ancestry involved.
3. Study the websites for further Druid advice that isn't found on bookstore shelves. (See the end of this lesson).
4. Prepare to study your Self as a way to wisdom.
5. Learn as much about the natural world as possible through field guides, teachers, classes, etc. Be out in Nature as often as possible.
6.Learn divination, and work on perfecting your third eye.
7. Read, read, read. Study everything history, anthropology, art music, drama, theology, law, sociology, psychology, geography, biology, astronomy, herb lore, mythology, healing, etc.
8.Choose an area of specialization and attempt to perfect it.
9.Practice being a Druid 24 hours a day, seven days a week. View it as a lifestyle rather than "just" a religion.
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Though
that seems to be a tall order, for many of you, these studies, these beliefs, come naturally. While the Druid path is not for everyone, it is certainly a choice for many pagans who have not yet found their heart's desire.
If you have questions about the Druid path, feel free to email me personally at: JudeToo@aol.com
I am
currently accepting a limited number of dedicated, enthusiastic students who are ready to read and do a lot of writing. If interested, please go to:
http://www.onelist.com
and subscribe to toadtalk, my online class
Recommended Books for Study:
The Druids
- Stuart Piggott:
Recommended
Websites:
http://www.pagansonline.com/~bonewits
(Isaac Bonewits homepage)
The
Druids - Peter Beresford Ellis
Encyclopedia
of Celtic Wisdom- Caitlin Matthews
Pagan
Celtic Britain - Anne Ross
Lost
Beliefs of Pagan Europe - H.R. Ellis-Davidson
Pagan
Religions of the Ancient British Isles - Ronald Hutton
History
of Pagan Europe - Nigel Pennick and Prudence Jones
Celtic
Heritage:Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales, Alwyn & Brinley Rees
Druids,
Gods & Heroes from Celtic Mythology (World Mythology Series), Anne
Ross
http://www.adf.org
(ArnD'raiocht Fein: A Druid Fellowship)
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~bmyers
(Cathbad's Sanctum)
http://members.aol.com/Keltria
(Henge of Keltria)
read
this one the entire way through
