{"id":9873,"date":"2014-05-01T01:10:54","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T06:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=10213"},"modified":"2014-05-04T13:08:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T18:08:49","slug":"signposts-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2014\/05\/01\/signposts-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Signposts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Signposts:\u00a0 My First Look at Druidry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being Pagan means we are always learning.\u00a0 As soon as I think I grasp something that I feel comfortable with I learn about something new.\u00a0 Although I’m not as green as I was when I started this path I’m also certainly no expert in any part of it.\u00a0 The amount of information and the number of paths to choose from is frankly overwhelming yet somehow still exhilarating.\u00a0 There is always more to learn.<\/p>\n

A friend of mine recommended a book on Druidry to me – The Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Living Earth by John Michael Greer, a Druid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA).<\/p>\n

I found it to be a fascinating and enlightening read.<\/p>\n

The book is divided into three parts.\u00a0 The first provides a rich and honest discussion about the history of the Druid movement.\u00a0 The second provides a look into Druid philosophy.\u00a0 The third offers a practical guide to those interested in following a Druid path.\u00a0 Greer explains that reading the book front to back isn’t for everyone – for those simply interested in a history of Druids could stop at the end of part one, and those familiar with the history could simply start with part three.\u00a0 I chose to read it through – my knowledge of Druidry was limited to the sections I read in other books and the limited number of them I’ve met.\u00a0 Greer also provides an extended reading list at the end of each part with a brief description of how it is relevant to the topic.
\nOne of the first things I immediately noticed was how matter-of-fact the content is presented – in a plain way without over embellishment.\u00a0 Somehow, Greer comes across as someone simply having a conversation with the reader.\u00a0 He has a wonderful way with words which he uses to effectively illustrate his points.\u00a0 I also appreciated his sense of humor.\u00a0 The book brings a sense of levity to counter some of the more difficult discussions.<\/p>\n

In the first part of the book, Greer cleverly dances not around sensitive topics but head first into them.\u00a0 He talks about controversial aspects of Druid history, for example, in an unapologetic way – pointing out what may be historical inaccuracies yet acknowledging the historical perspectives they require.\u00a0 This was refreshing.\u00a0 Like some more recent books on Wicca, he discusses Druid acceptance of their more recent history and the assertion that longevity isn’t akin to validity.<\/p>\n

The second part of the book covers Druid philosophy.\u00a0 Here Greer describes key aspects and provides definitions of important terms.\u00a0 The discussion of ternaries was insightful and timely to me.\u00a0 It is interesting that we often face the same issues of duality throughout our planet’s history.\u00a0 Obviously this is just as true today.<\/p>\n

The third part is broken down into The Earth Path, The Sun Path, and the Moon Path.\u00a0 Each section teaches a particular aspect of Druidry for a new initiate to follow.\u00a0 Basic natural awareness coupled with study of the local plant and animal life, as well as its natural history, are covered in the Earth Path.\u00a0 How to open and close a Druid Grove and some basic ways to celebrate the seasonal holidays are included in the Sun Path.\u00a0\u00a0 Finally, the Moon Path section covers Druid meditation, from how it can differ from other paths to techniques such as color breathing.<\/p>\n

The Druid path presented by Greer in his book gave me quite a bit to think about.\u00a0 I practice many things described in the book and tend to live the kind of life he describes already.
\nLike most Pagans, I place a lot of value on the Earth and it’s cycles.\u00a0 I volunteer my time with local conservation groups and use public transportation as a way to relieve stress while putting less of a burden on the environment.\u00a0 My family recycles everything we can and we try our hands at gardening (my wife has a way with plants that I envy).
\nI also practice polytheism.\u00a0 I find it makes sense to me on both a spiritual and mental level.\u00a0 I find that the different deities I work with have very different personalities and I develop individual relationships with them.\u00a0 To some Pagans deities are simply different aspects of ‘the One’, stating that these aspects are reflections of us.\u00a0 While this may be the case, I only know what I’ve experienced.\u00a0 This book touches on that and closely echoes my feelings when discussing the existence of the Gods and Goddesses.\u00a0 Greer states:<\/p>\n

“Experience, not belief, is central to Druid spirituality, and so it actually doesn\u2019t matter that much to Druidry whether gods are objectively real individual divine beings, aspects or manifestations of some overarching unity, archetypal functions within the human mind, or something else entirely. What matters is that they do certain things, embody certain energies, and appear in certain ways.”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The discussion in the book about simplifying life was also relevant, as I have taken great steps over the past few years to reduce the clutter, both in physical and material things and in my digital online life.<\/p>\n

Druidry seems similar to other paths, both Pagan on non-Pagan, in many aspects.\u00a0 Concepts of nonduality, the practice of meditation, acknowledging Deities in our lives, for example, all have homes in other practices as well.\u00a0 The signpost for me is that looking at other Pagan traditions and what they practice can provide a different perspective to our own paths.\u00a0 Many of the beliefs may be similar but a different emphasis on one aspect over another can alter our perceptions just enough to more completely understand something we thought we already knew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Signposts:\u00a0 My First Look at Druidry Being Pagan means we are always learning.\u00a0 As soon as I think I grasp something that I feel comfortable with I learn about something new.\u00a0 Although I’m not as green as I was when I started this path I’m also certainly no expert in any part of it.\u00a0 The amount of information and the number of paths to choose from is frankly overwhelming yet somehow still exhilarating.\u00a0 There is always more to learn. A friend of mine recommended a book on Druidry to me – The Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Living Earth by John Michael Greer, a Druid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA). I found it to be a fascinating and enlightening read. The book is divided into three parts.\u00a0 The first provides a rich and honest discussion about the history of the Druid movement.\u00a0 The second provides a look into Druid philosophy.\u00a0 The third offers a practical guide to those interested in following a Druid path.\u00a0 Greer explains that reading the book front to back isn’t for everyone – for those simply interested in a history of Druids could stop at the end of part one, and those familiar with the history could simply start with part three.\u00a0 I chose to read it through – my knowledge of Druidry was limited to the sections I read in other books and the limited number of them I’ve met.\u00a0 Greer also provides an extended reading list at the end of each part with a brief description of how it is relevant to the topic. One of the first things I immediately noticed was how matter-of-fact the content is presented – in a plain way without over embellishment.\u00a0 Somehow, Greer comes across as someone simply having a conversation with the reader.\u00a0 He has a wonderful way with words which he uses to effectively illustrate his points.\u00a0 I also appreciated his sense of humor.\u00a0 The book brings a sense of levity to counter some of the more difficult discussions. In the first part of the book, Greer cleverly dances not around sensitive topics but head first into them.\u00a0 He talks about controversial aspects of Druid history, for example, in an unapologetic way – pointing out what may be historical inaccuracies yet acknowledging the historical perspectives they require.\u00a0 This was refreshing.\u00a0 Like some more recent books on Wicca, he discusses Druid acceptance of their more recent history and the assertion that longevity isn’t akin to validity. The second part of the book covers Druid philosophy.\u00a0 Here Greer describes key aspects and provides definitions of important terms.\u00a0 The discussion of ternaries was insightful and timely to me.\u00a0 It is interesting that we often face the same issues of duality throughout our planet’s history.\u00a0 Obviously this is just as true today. The third part is broken down into The Earth Path, The Sun Path, and the Moon Path.\u00a0 Each section teaches a particular aspect of Druidry for a new initiate to follow.\u00a0 Basic natural awareness coupled with study of the local plant and animal life, as well as its natural history, are covered in the Earth Path.\u00a0 How to open and close a Druid Grove and some basic ways to celebrate the seasonal holidays are included in the Sun Path.\u00a0\u00a0 Finally, the Moon Path section covers Druid meditation, from how it can differ from other paths to techniques such as color breathing. The Druid path presented by Greer in his book gave me quite a bit to think about.\u00a0 I practice many things described in the book and tend to live the kind of life he describes already. Like most Pagans, I place a lot of value on the Earth and it’s cycles.\u00a0 I volunteer my time with local conservation groups and use public transportation as a way to relieve stress while putting less of a burden on the environment.\u00a0 My family recycles everything we can and we try our hands at gardening (my wife has a way with plants that I envy). I also practice polytheism.\u00a0 I find it makes sense to me on both a spiritual and mental level.\u00a0 I find that the different deities I work with have very different personalities and I develop individual relationships with them.\u00a0 To some Pagans deities are simply different aspects of ‘the One’, stating that these aspects are reflections of us.\u00a0 While this may be the case, I only know what I’ve experienced.\u00a0 This book touches on that and closely echoes my feelings when discussing the existence of the Gods and Goddesses.\u00a0 Greer states: “Experience, not belief, is central to Druid spirituality, and so it actually doesn\u2019t matter that much to Druidry whether gods are objectively real individual divine beings, aspects or manifestations of some overarching unity, archetypal functions within the human mind, or something else entirely. What matters is that they do certain things, embody certain energies, and appear in certain ways.” The discussion in the book about simplifying life was also relevant, as I have taken great steps over the past few years to reduce the clutter, both in physical and material things and in my digital online life. Druidry seems similar to other paths, both Pagan on non-Pagan, in many aspects.\u00a0 Concepts of nonduality, the practice of meditation, acknowledging Deities in our lives, for example, all have homes in other practices as well.\u00a0 The signpost for me is that looking at other Pagan traditions and what they practice can provide a different perspective to our own paths.\u00a0 Many of the beliefs may be similar but a different emphasis on one aspect over another can alter our perceptions just enough to more completely understand something we thought we already knew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}