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Author Topic: 30 Days of Druidry Meme  (Read 4314 times)

AlisonLeighLilly

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30 Days of Druidry Meme
« on: August 08, 2011, 05:19:18 pm »
I mentioned this on another thread as something I was planning on doing as a creative writing project during the month of August, and.... it's August. :)

I haven't been able to keep up with daily posting even during the first week, but I've been enjoying the project anyway, so I thought I'd share it again and make a new thread in case people wanted to join me. I figured we could post our responses to the meme and/or links to our blog posts here in this thread. I'm going in order, day by day, but you could also just do the ones that are most interesting to you or skip around to whatever inspires you.

Here's the meme list again:

Quote
30 Days of Druidry

1. Why Druidry?
2. Foundations – Cosmology
3. Foundations – Nature and Earth
4. Foundations – The Three Realms
5. Foundations – The Elements
6. Foundations – Altar, Grove and Nemeton
7. Foundations – Day-to-Day Practice
8. Relationships – Gods/Deities and Spirit
9. Relationships – The Ancestors
10. Relationships – Spirits of the Land
11. Relationships – Ritual and Worship
12. Relationships – The Fire Festivals
13. Relationships – The Solar Festivals
14. Relationships – Rites of Passage
15. Inspirations – Awen and Creativity
16. Inspirations – Prayer and Meditation
17. Inspirations – Storytelling and Myth
18. Inspirations – Music, Poetry and Aesthetics
19. Inspirations – Ethics, Virtues and Values
20. Inspirations – Divination and Magic
21. Inspirations – Mysticism and Philosophy
22. Everyday Life – Druidry and Family Life
23. Everyday Life – Druidry and Romance
24. Everyday Life – Druidry and Work/Career
25. Everyday Life – Conservation and Environmentalism
26. Everyday Life – Druidry and Community
27. Everyday Life – Peace and Social Justice
28. Everyday Life – A Life in the Day of a Druid
29. The Future of Druidry
30. Advice to the Seeker

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2011, 05:23:47 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11529
I figured we could post our responses to the meme and/or links to our blog posts here in this thread.

 
And I'll share what I've written so far to start things off. :)

Why Druidry?

Quote
There is, I think, an old, white-bearded man who has taken up a place in my soul, like a seed of light or a hermit’s lantern held up in the surrounding dark. His staff is heavy, planted in the ground. His brow is bright. In his dark eyes, that have seen such sorrow, there is still a star, a gleam like wisdom or stubborn joy. And he is a leader of a people, and he would lead them into the wilderness, that they might make of themselves whole constellations with the patterns of their dancing.

That darkness is my body. That wilderness is my spirit. That constellation is the soul-song rising, woven from the sound of my breathing and the blood turning through my gnarled, twining veins. (...)


Cosmology

Quote
A match is struck — the flare in the darkness, the smell of sulfur, the quiet roar and hiss that is the first whispered melody of the cosmic dance. Energy and matter, process and emptiness, fire and water, the dance of relationship. Each sacred rite begins this way. The match is struck. The world begins again.

I light the small white candle floating in the deep blue bowl. What was before this? Nothing and void, pure potential. The flame licks and eats the air, the waters beneath swirl and turn, the soft wax of the candle hangs suspended in between. The wax melts, shining and dripping into the waters. The wax evaporates, lifting in invisible currents into the air. The fire stretches and curls, its edges sharp against the darkness, its movements as fluid as blood or rain. The waters grow still, a hard surface like the mirror reflection of some greater night, infinite as space and full of stars. The Three Realms unfold, dynamic in their spiraling dance of self-giving and welcome. Land, Sea and Sky created and re-created again, the cosmos reborn with every prayer. (...)


Nature and Earth

Quote
I look up from my work at the computer and notice for the first time the gray curtain of rain outside my window. That sacred presence that crept upon the land so slowly, opening itself up into a downpour over this city of steep hills and huge rivers with such unrelenting patience that it’s easy to believe the rain could go on forever, pounding over the black slate rooftops and gathering into the gutters.

And it does. I turn off the air conditioner and open the windows to let the breeze and noise-song of the storm in. The smell of summer is delicious and sweet and warm in my lungs. The red brick of our neighbor’s house darkens to a deeper, mottled red across the narrow span of the alley. Our tiny garden nods and nods to the rhythm. Down the street, thunder and lightning play over the woods, wetlands and ravines of the sprawling city park. I’ve been caught in the rain during walks there more than once, drenched and squilching through muddy dips in the trails, slipping on wet rocks, hair matted down into my eyes. Maybe there is nothing so holy as the mingling of sweat and rain on the skin during a hot, suddenly dark summer afternoon. (...)


I'll post other links and excerpts here as I write. Really look forward to seeing others' writing, too! :)

--Ali

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2011, 07:22:09 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11531

I'll post other links and excerpts here as I write.

 
My latest from today...

The Three Realms

Quote
First, I knew the sea. The dark waters and the deep. That seeping, salty body that sloshes crest to trough and back again, ebb and flow in a dance with the moon. We carry an ocean in our blood, blue or purple beneath our skin, and only sometimes flushed pink or deeper red. The sea, like the past, seeps into the hidden depths within us where it works its erosion through memory and dream. Ancestors trickle through our fingers like water, each one of the beloved dead like a raindrop that enters the river that runs to join its source again. You can feel it sometimes, just as you are drifting off to sleep — that spinning, floating, rocking — as though the present were only a tiny raft upon a great heaving sea of time.

And then there is the sky. The bright air, the heights that hold the stars and sun like mighty pillars, fluted columns circling to make a temple to the gods. (...)


And a poem for The Elements, though I'm not all that satisfied with it.


Also, I've discovered two new folks joining in: Themon the Bard and The Ditzy Druid, which is cool! :)

--Ali

Chakabe

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2011, 12:29:25 am »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;12102
--Ali

 Not to break this up but the 30 days of druidry sounds awesome. :D
It is like a previous idea I presented revolving around "Neo-Druidry for beginners" being like a compendium for the new guys / gals like myself(Guy). This could be considered like for me it would be a start on a new path.
InnerWalden <-- New site  
"In the parlor there were three. He, the parlor lamp, and she. Two is a party but three is a crowd so the parlor lamp went out."

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2011, 11:17:18 am »
Quote from: Chakabe;12745
Not to break this up but the 30 days of druidry sounds awesome. :D
It is like a previous idea I presented revolving around "Neo-Druidry for beginners" being like a compendium for the new guys / gals like myself(Guy). This could be considered like for me it would be a start on a new path.

 
I was kind of thinking the same thing. So many of the topics and prompts are basic to the practice of Druidry in one way or another, you really could write a whole book based on them! Wouldn't it be cool if a bunch of us each wrote our own thoughts for each of the topics, and then collected them together all in one place like an "Intro to Druidry," guide presenting the myriad different ways people approach their path? :)

--Ali

Chakabe

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2011, 01:33:40 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;12801
I was kind of thinking the same thing. So many of the topics and prompts are basic to the practice of Druidry in one way or another, you really could write a whole book based on them! Wouldn't it be cool if a bunch of us each wrote our own thoughts for each of the topics, and then collected them together all in one place like an "Intro to Druidry," guide presenting the myriad different ways people approach their path? :)

--Ali

 
I think I would actually enjoy that one, I'm still reading through the book "Principles of Druidry" by Emma Restall Orr. What I love so much about that book is that it is pocket sized so I can just slip it in and off I go. Awesome stuff :)
InnerWalden <-- New site  
"In the parlor there were three. He, the parlor lamp, and she. Two is a party but three is a crowd so the parlor lamp went out."

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2011, 08:00:50 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11531

I'll post other links and excerpts here as I write.


It's been slow going this month after all, but here's my latest meme post for anyone interested!
 
Nemeton, Altar and Sacred Grove

Quote
What is the sacred grove? The nemeton, sanctuary of spirit. A place set apart, a respite from wildness. Amongst the trunks of sacred trees — thick, tall pillars of rough bark etched in rivulets and knots that watch like eyes as light and shadow dance across the land — there is a space, within which all wildness, noise and dancing gives way to stillness. The grove is the eye of the world, as the storm has its eye that watches calmly from the very center the turning, roiling winds that utterly surround it. But this is no hard-edged circle, a gate that slams shut against the sacred mess and buzz of the world. The grove is made of wildness, too, an edge sculpted by wind and rain and sunlight, an eddy in the currents of energy. It is an in-drawn breath, a going-in amidst the goings-on, that opens up a center deep in the very heart and flux of things.

And in the sacred grove, there is the altar where we do our work. A center of gravity, a pole that runs the length of the universe and patiently turns the worlds around itself. (...)

Chakabe

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2011, 01:24:01 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;14182
...

 After I am done with this cursed online math thing I have to do(Finished with it...not like done today). I will likely be sitting down for this as well. Thanks for the inspiration :)
InnerWalden <-- New site  
"In the parlor there were three. He, the parlor lamp, and she. Two is a party but three is a crowd so the parlor lamp went out."

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2011, 09:25:33 pm »
Quote from: Chakabe;14565
After I am done with this cursed online math thing I have to do(Finished with it...not like done today). I will likely be sitting down for this as well. Thanks for the inspiration :)

 
Yay! You might end up catching up with me, actually. It's two steps forward, one step back with this thing, and today I ended up going back and revisiting my very first post on "Why Druidry?"...

Why Druidry? Revisited

Quote
So why use the name “Druid” at all, if it carries such difficulty and uncertainty with it?

To me, Druidry will always be a kind of mysticism or mystery religion, a spiritual path grounded in the ecstasy, creativity and vision that takes root in wildness. As a religion, modern Druidry has grown up around the archetype of the Druid as the wise sage, the inspired poet, the bright-eyed seer and the lover of nature. That archetype of the Druid is the acorn from which the oak of Druidry as a religion grows and expands, reaching limbs in all directions, sending down roots deep into the earth and the present moment. The Druid archetype is the ideal that helps to shape and guide the religious lives of those who practice Druidry — just as the acorn contains within itself the genetic patterns necessary to create the mature oak, and yet each oak itself must draw nutrients from its immediate environment and will grow in its turn to fit its own place and time. No two oaks that grow in the wild will be the same, and that process of growth is never-ending as each new branch, twig, leaf and root seek their own way towards sunlight and soil. (...)

AlisonLeighLilly

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2011, 12:21:55 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;14674


 
Druidry Day-to-Day

Quote
Not all days are perfect. My spiritual work is like a filament of intention strung up between pegs — sometimes taut and humming with energy and hope that moves me easily and eagerly from practice to practice, but other times hanging limply in low loops that seem impossible to pull tight again. On those days, I do my best to return to my spiritual work. Breath, movement, attending to the world around me. These are the pegs, those points of nexus and connection, that keep my intention tuned — like the tuning keys on a guitar’s head or along the neck of a harp, that we turn and return to with trust and gentleness, making those small adjustments that keep us singing. (...)

Asch

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #10 on: September 16, 2011, 09:29:43 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11529
I mentioned this on another thread as something I was planning on doing as a creative writing project during the month of August, and.... it's August. :)

I haven't been able to keep up with daily posting even during the first week, but I've been enjoying the project anyway, so I thought I'd share it again and make a new thread in case people wanted to join me. I figured we could post our responses to the meme and/or links to our blog posts here in this thread. I'm going in order, day by day, but you could also just do the ones that are most interesting to you or skip around to whatever inspires you.

Here's the meme list again:


*is late to the party* :D

Per usual I've vanished for a bit while working on school and health issues...again anyhoodles. Here I be! I'm not sure I'll be able to tackle each of the themes as I'm still sorting them out in my brain even now - although, that's really not likely to change any time soon eh? So maybe this'll help things along...

Anyway. I'll be joining in a bit sporadically and will link here as appropriate :D This is a great idea and like Chakabe and AlisionLeighLilly I really hope these posts and musings can assist some of our faith siblings in our mutual journeys ;)

celestialwolf

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #11 on: September 16, 2011, 09:45:44 pm »
Quote from: Asch;20530
...

 
I must say, seeing this thread made me smile. I think I may do something similar soon with my own path. Really awesome idea.

darashand

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2011, 02:28:32 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;11529

 
I think this is a great project! I wish I had the time and the resources to do it, but I probably couldn't even attempt until June.

I think these are all wonderful suggestions, though, and I am looking forward to the results.

Chakabe

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Re: 30 Days of Druidry Meme
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2011, 09:30:47 pm »
Quote from: celestialwolf;20532
I must say, seeing this thread made me smile. I think I may do something similar soon with my own path. Really awesome idea.

 
TOmorrow I will be going out into the woods and just sitting around / focusing... Maybe take a rune or two with me... All hope to get some peace with it :)

I'll post about it in my blog or make a new one just for Druidry.
InnerWalden <-- New site  
"In the parlor there were three. He, the parlor lamp, and she. Two is a party but three is a crowd so the parlor lamp went out."

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