Druidry resonated with me even before I knew what it was. I’ve always loved visiting stone circles, for example. You would never have found me clamouring to go to Disneyland as a child - I was happiest among the stone rows of Carnac or soaking up the energies at Castlerigg, for example.
I think the first time I ever really knew what Druidry was was when I interviewed a lady for my paper’s Good Faith page who was preparing to celebrate Imbolc. And I thought it was awesome. Just awesome. She suggested some books to me (including Pagan Paths and Druid Priestess) and I was on my way.
It rang so many bells with me. Who can resist a way of life (let’s not call it a religion….) which fosters love of: peace; beauty; justice; story and myth; history and reverence for the ancestors; trees; stones; truth; animals; the body; the sun, moon, stars and sky; each other; and life?
The Wheel of the Year, ever turning, ever turning, is a powerful way of thinking about nature, the world and our place within it. Once you know about it and understand it, everything falls into place. From the first shoots at Imbolc to the harvest at Lughnasadh, from the Beltane fires to the dark nights of Samhain, and round and round again every year – it’s the circle of life and experience made visible in the world.
[Incidentally, if you are ever in Ireland, you should visit Brigit's Garden, a real highlight of our honeymoon full of symbolism and spirals and things that give me shivers (in a good way!).]
The major problem I had with some forms of Druidry was the worship of deities. It just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t interested in ritual. In fact, I can point at one book in particular that turned me away – The Modern-day Druidess: A Practical Guide to Nature Spirituality (link). What a title! I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. But there was too much ritual and not enough nature, and I gave that book away as quickly as I snapped it up so I wouldn’t have to have it on my shelves.
Imagine my delight when I came across the Natural Realm cards from the Deo Gloria Trust. Oh yes! As far as I am concerned these are perfect in every way :-) Their whole purpose is to combine modern research, ancient spiritual wisdom and ideas from the Bible. They are fab!
My two favourite cards include two of my favourite elements from nature spirituality – the ideas of thin places – where the division between heaven and earth is thinnest, such as mountain tops or ancient forests – and of walking a labyrinth to reflect our journey through life. I also love the online labyrinths at http://www.rejesus.co.uk/spirituality/labyrinth/ and http://www.lostinwonder.org.uk/ – have a look at them.
Orders like the Ceile De say: “The Living Celtic Spiritual Tradition contains the best of the earlier mystery tradition of Druidism, an intimate, immanent relationship with the Divine and a deep faith in the transformative power of Love, all leading toward Christ-consciousness.” Even the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids happily explores the link between Christianity and Druidry.
I feel like I’ve waffled a bit here without really even addressing the title of this post but hopefully you can see where I’m coming from! As I learn more about Christianity I want to apply my gut understanding of the Wheel of the Year and nature and use it appreciate all the more the wonders of creation.
I’ll finish on a wonderful quote from Martin Luther, who I studied at university: “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees and flowers and clouds and stars”. Amen to that.
Again, I had to look up the passage, but this made me think of Psalm 19.
As an aside, I went for a walk with Adam a while ago and he stopped to look at some yellow flowers. I told him that God had made the flowers for us and he looked up at me and said “Oh, thank you!”. I don’t know if he meant thank you to God for making them or thank you to me for telling him, but I thought it was sweet anyway!
Keep writing!!!
That’s so sweet! Give him a hug from me. I read Psalm 19 – I liked it, especially the first part. I can see why my post made you think of it