Because a Fire is in My Head!

Life did that thing it does, acting like life and all, and became rather busy for several months. Who would have thought trying to finish a degree part-time, keeping a healthy/active relationship with the family, a job promotion, and added Craft commitments would have taken up some much of my time? Everyone except me I guess. Anyway, this is not a complaint or an excuse, just context. Though the blog has been silent, my re-exploration into Druidry did not end.

Though I could, I’m not going to bother summing up the whole of the last several months. I think it is much more fun to just jump into the current and have at the action instead of a stale tale of a backstory, which I feel would be a boring affair indeed.

The latest significant change to my practice involves ogham. For years and years I worked with them magickally and divinatorily (it’s a word now). Then I sat them down and didn’t touch ‘em again for years. Why? Two reasons really. (1) I wanted to focus on tarot exclusively for a while. (2) I am an idiot sometimes; being human and all.

This changed recently when I was hanging out with a Gardnerian (amongst other things) friend of mine and he pulled out an ogham set whereby each ogham few is made from the corresponding tree. I only looked at them for a few minutes before handing them back. They were game changing though. It was as if they lit a fire in my head. Literally, I have had ogham permeating my thoughts on an almost constant basis. Just for clarity, I meant the literal use of the word literal there.

Imagine an old friend you haven’t seen in long time just showing up on your doorstep one day. It has been as such. Like all things in our spiritual pursuit, the only permanence is change and I can’t say what the future holds. I am glad though that the Wheel brought this one back around again.

It is important to let things drift into the past as needed, but if an old friend comes back invite them in and ask them to set for a spell or two.

Enjoy this poem!

THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS

by: W.B. Yeats

I went out to the hazel wood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,

And moth-like stars were flickering out,

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor

I went to blow the fire a-flame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And some one called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.

Boidh Se,

-Cuchulain Duir

This Tired Old Thing?

So it happened. The day I knew would arrive has, the day that my re-interest in Druidry stopped being the new shiny toy. It doesn’t mean that I want to get rid of it, but like my kid’s Yule presents, it could easily be set aside to gather dust while I play with the next ultra-fun and NEW toy that comes along. Yep, totally bored rehashing my Druid past right about now.

I’ll tell you a secret though. This is a good thing. Yep, a good thing.

Only after the sparkle of the craze has worn off are we able to really begin the work at hand. It is like mediation, boredom in just one of the gates to doing it right. In order for me to truly become immersed in Druidry it must stop being a thing that is seen as separate, which is what the fun-toy approach does, but instead I must allow it to melt into my day to day life. So in order for that to happen not only must I keep playing with it, but I must take active steps so that my day-to-day life and Druidry just are.

I think I am on the right road for this. This past weekend, I took a few minutes to myself and performed a short ritual of, I’m not gonna say dedication, let’s go with vague intention. After which I set a flame on the small altar I recently erected as a mark of this. Now all that’s left is to keep practicing until there is no seperation.

Boidh Se,

-Cuchulain Duir

Yard-sticks Are Essential For Druids!

Yesterday as I sat in my daily meditation a fleeting thought entered my awareness before passing into the cauldron of the past. Normally when I meditate I allow any thoughts to pass away without a second pass. This was one of those rare occasions when I decided to “put a pin in it” for later before re-returning my focus back on singular. It’s not unusual for one’s brain to try and wonder off, that whole monkey mind thing that Buddhism talks about, but I do keep at it anyway. But at the time the idea struck me as one worth exploring as bit more at a later time.

So in the course of the OBOD’s training an individual begins working with an inner grove much like an astral temple which may be worked with in conjunction with a physical working space. In the ADF it is part of the Dedicant’s Path (DP; their initial training program) to setup a Home Shrine with specific plans to make improvements to it in the future. The earlier idea that I pinned for later is like the two of these getting married and having little awen babies.

Setting up the inner grove is like setting aside space in one’s heart and life with which to work. However, if we apply the DP approach to this it becomes a planned path of self-improvement, which my Craft saturated heart loves. How do I want to cultivate my inner spiritual landscape? What improvements do I want to apply and see in myself down the road? These, and similar questions, I believe are something I am going to need to reflect on. Now that have made space in and around me, I need a plan. So I guess the next step is to decide what I want my grove/inner me to be. This is totally like Crafting, but in a new Druidry language. One that I am only now beginning to think-speak in. It is obvious though, if I am to measure the steps down the path, I need a yard-stick to measure with and that yard-stick is something like a plan.

Boidh Se,

-Cuchulain Duir

We Are All a Bunch of Fakes!

This morning I was thinking about the small home-shrine I set up and started thinking about the different components that I have included on it. It is a shrine with which I will begin exploring a deeper relationship with Druidry and its various spirit allies. A simple altar at that, but one with which I plan to expand on in time.

Now as I was mulling over the items, fairly nonchalantly I might add, I thought a moment about a dagger included with a white handle with a couple of runes burnt into the handle as well. At this point in the train of thought I immediately turned cynical and critical to the decision to include the dagger, “But Druids didn’t use the Elder Futhark Runes!” my mind screamed. At this instance my tangent ran down the list of every inaccuracy on the small cloth. Everything was wrong, all of it.

In fact, when I expanded this same thinking to the rest of Druidry, it was all wrong too. We aren’t the descendants in any form of ancient Druidry. We are all a bunch of fakes. For all we know even the word Druid isn’t historically accurate in any context in which we are using it. My brain screamed and wailed that we got it all wrong. All of it! Four elements… Wrong! Druids that aren’t Celtic based… Wrong! White robes… Wrong! Groves… Wrong! Orders… Wrong! Stone Henge… Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Almost as quick as my brain went into overdrive decrying the entirety of Druidry, it stopped when a smaller yet more powerful part spoke up. Not much was said, but just enough. Barely rising from under the storm was muttered the words, “So what? Who cares?” One of my teachers once told me something along the lines, “Outside of ritual every Witch is a skeptic, but while in ritual they are the most steadfast believer.” Truthfully, I think there is a lot of wisdom here. It is a tidbit I like to chew on every now and then.

I don’t know how much if any of what we do in any form of Contemporary Pagan Druidry is accurate to ancient history, and I don’t really care either. Sure I read the old myths and lore for inspiration to build a new Druidry; but it is just that, a new Druidry. So at the end of the day, my small home-shrine may not be the most historically accurate, but who cares? It is perfect just the way it is.

Boidh Se,

-Cuchulain Duir

A Mirth Filled Solstice With a Dash of Druidry!

Yule at my house-hold is in full swing. The kidlets are stuffing themselves with candy from stockings, playing with new toys while sitting in a large pile of wrapping paper, and otherwise doing what children do on Yule morning. I made breakfast, pan cakes, and enjoyed my morning coffee while listening to Christmas music. My wife is currently sipping her coffee and playing on the floor with our youngest. Later tonight we will feast, I believe we are having rabbit in a mushroom gravy, followed by a small rite, and an evening of storytelling. This is how we get down. All and all, a good time.

I’m not sure where Druidry fits into all of this. I can certainly speak on the Craft and Paganism in this regards, at length. I mean, I am sure there are many Druids out there that are or will be doing something similar today, but speaking from a praxis perspective, I’m not sure exactly how I want to approach the solstice with Druidry. So it’s not really an uncertainty about what lore and traditions Druidry applies to this Holy Day, but an uncertainty about just how I am going to not only mark today but also to do so with a nod towards this path.

In the end, I don’t think it really matters too much. Far too often I feel people get wrapped up in semantics and forget to just celebrate with a happy dose of mirth. Well, I’m just going to go with the flow and just assume my nod towards Druidry is in there somewhere.

Outside of all that, I also wanted to share my favorite story about the Solstice. Enjoy and have a blessed Yule!

A Solstice Bedtime Story

By: Ing, CoR Co-Founder and Chief Bard

The Oak King wore a crown made of deer antlers intertwined with leafy branches of oak and mistletoe bearing its white berries. The Oak King was majestic as he strode through the forest. He was following the sun, and he was finding the path colder day by day. Each time he crossed a stream, the Oak King would take a drink. Each time he did, he began to see that he was growing very old.

Soon the Oak King found it difficult to continue. His old and stiffened body could not carry him much further. As he pulled himself to the edge of a calm, clear spring, he said to himself; "Each day grows darker; soon I shall die." The ancient Oak King bent to take a drink. As he looked at his reflection, he saw ice forming on the surface of the water. The Oak King felt the darkness. The ice was closing his vital drinking space.

Just as he was failing, the Oak King looked again at his reflection in the spring. This time he saw the ice melting away. The antlered crown of the Oak King began to change. The rounded oak leaves became sharp and pointed. The white mistletoe berries became red as if the life fluids of all animals flowed into them. The Oak King lifted his head and felt the life force grow strong within him. As he looked into the unfreezing stream, this time he saw holly leaves with red berries instead of oak and mistletoe.

The former Oak King, now the Holly King, leapt from the stream bank, and pranced through the forest. He now follows the sun on its upward course. With each step the Holly King takes, he melts the ice, leaving the ground ready for the Goddess to awaken her tiny plants.

So Mote It Be!

Boide Se,

-Cuchulain Duir

It’s a Crazy Balancing Act of Magickal Proportion

I’m a Devotionalist. Now what I mean by that is simple, it is someone whom actively engages in maintaining a variety of spiritual relationships. These relationships may be of fellowship with other practitioners, to one’s Gods and Goddesses, and or any other number of spirit allies. For the active Witch (or magickal practitioners), this should all make perfect sense.

Being a Devotionalist brings a lot with it. One has to attend rituals with the groups they are a member of, make regular offerings and prayers to maintain proper rapport, and otherwise engage regularly when working certain area of integration of one’s sphere. As such, sometimes we magickal people put too much on our plate alongside our other commitments; think school, family, work, etc.

One of my teachers once told me something along the lines of, “If you want to dig a deep hole, you gotta stand in one spot for a while and stop digging all over the yard.” This is ridiculously true. Since my last involvement with Druidry I have tried to stay only in the Traditional Craft Rabbit Hole, just to see how deep it goes. As such, I have gone some amazing places in my practice.

Sometimes though, depth of practice digs up relationships one does not plan on. For example, with myself anyway, I began to explore just how closely some modern Craft practices are an extension of the old grimoire traditions. There is a clear tie and I have dug in that in this hole. Exploring this and actually engaging in some of the practices has brought with it many new spiritual allies, all of which are maintained.

So what does this have to do with Druidry? Overall, it doesn’t have a whole lot. Well, except for that one thing. That one thing is me; or anyone else that has an active Devotional life. I am a VERY busy Witch, and throwing even more on top is a bit much.

This is where I am at now. I have many commitments and Druidry has got a battering ram at what is left of the door. I’ve pretty much decided the next big step for me is to find a space to set up a home-shrine. The problem, a minor one though, is finding a place. I already have plans for this weekend to rearrange the entire Temple Room to combine two altars (as a result of some recent spiritual direction) and enlarge the end result. Yet somewhere in there I need to find space, without crowding the room, to fit a place for the relationships I am building now in exploring Druidry.

Overall, it is a minor issue. Yet it illustrates a key issue. If one cannot find the physical room to dedicate to their spiritual relationships, then making nonphysical space in life will be next to impossible. It is that simple.

I’ll find a place, I am sure.

Boidh Se,

-Cuchulain Duir

Druid Orders: A Carrot and a Stick

It has been just under one week since I have started to delve into Druidry again. I am at the beginning stage of planning things out. My practice has expanded a lot since I first looked into Druidry. I have to find room for all my Craft practices, my grimoire work, the work I am doing getting to know the local spiritual stage (genii loci, spirits, ancestors of place, etc), and a whole host of other things. I’m not worried about finding the right balance either, it will come. I even have a loose plan of where I am going to begin. For example, one of the first big steps will be the setting up of a home-shrine for such work (yay, another altar for the Temple Room). After all, if this is to be a part of my practice, then I must make and set aside a physical space for both the work itself and the Gods and Goddesses with whom I will be involved with.

It isn’t all easy though. You see, last time I got into Druidry it was a long meandering path where I started with one Order and ended up, via several different Orders, in a very different one. The problem I am having this time around is finding a community for my kind of Druidry, which apparently is really hard when there are just some things you don’t like about Druid Orders.

Let us get the carrot out of the way first. There are lots of great things about the various Orders out there. They provide community, organization, training, and a whole host of other functions. These parts, I love these parts. Not to mention the people. There are many great people that I have met who are members of an Order or have been.

Now for the stick… The thing I really don’t like is the emphasis on everything being public, sometimes to an extreme. Like, I am having a loathsome time getting over it. It took me a long time to realize that I need the small and private setting that one gets from Traditional Craft Covens. That is not to say there is anything wrong with big and public. I just don’t want to be spilling my spiritual heart out on the table in such a setting with people I may have never met before. So it seems that oath-bound mystery cults are kinda my flavor. As far as I know, Druidry just doesn’t have any Orders along those lines anymore. And yes, I have researched it, in depth.

Sure there are lots of good reasons for such a public setting, even some great arguments for it. For example, it is often given as the reason that such-and-such Order is public oriented is because ancient Druids were public civil servants of sorts. Eh. Weak sauce. I am not an ancient Druid and my practice, though inspired therefrom, is not lineaged therefrom or in any way derived therefrom. In fact, the ancient Druids would likely recognize next to nothing in which we currently do. But, if this is your approach, enjoy it. It just doesn’t work for me.

Frankly, I haven’t decided how I am going to go forward in that area. I could always join an Order and maintain a private practice, but I do this anyway. I could just remain on my own, as a solitaire. Truth be told, there is nothing wrong with solitaire practice. I know though, I am one of those who require a community. One can’t have a community alone; regardless of what anyone tells you. I could also just start up a group focused in the manner in which I am wanting. I really don’t have that kind of time at this point.

I have, however, reached out to some old friends from my previous Druid days. I’m not trying to recreate those days or wake the resting, just wanting to have a touch of fellowship.

Boidh Se,

-Cuchulain Duir