Month: March 2014

Good Sunday Morning, my sweets! How ya’ll doing?

Sunday Images

Wanted to hop in and say, “Howdy!” As all of you know, we don’t do weekends (or at least we try not to, lol!). We use too but then I decided that we need a day or two off due to burn out. I know at one time all of our circuits were on overload and we were frying quickly. But now we do occasionally have time to relax. So what the heck am I doing here? I am going to be cleaning out our old site on Yuku today. We still have an entire site over there full of info. If we wanted to open it up, we could. But Yuku was not that kind to us as far as advertising our site, so we really don’t want too. WordPress has been terrific to us. Of course, we are like any others, we do have our occasional bumps in the road (who don’t?). But WP has been great and we love our home here. Back to the subject at hand, I am going to be moving info from over there to over here. I am going to try to do this as quick as possible. So just ignore me. Maybe I’ll drag something over that will interest you.

So just ignore me, I am not going to try to be in your way. You can enjoy the site in peace and quiet. I hope you have a super fantastic Sunday. Relax, enjoy & Goddess Bless!

Luv & Hugs,

Lady A

SINUS-CLEARING CANDLE

SINUS-CLEARING CANDLE

This is a candle you can make easily with household items. It’s good for clearing sinuses, and I’ve seen the aloe portion cure colds. This is an effective form of aromatherapy.

Take a small votive candle holder, enough green candles to melt into the holder, a large amount of fresh garlic, a spike from an aloe plant, (ask permission first,)and a handful of cloves. Melt all these into the candle carefully.

Leave overnight for the wax to dry. Then, burn.

CANDLE SPELL AGAINST PSYCHIC ATTACK

CANDLE SPELL AGAINST PSYCHIC ATTACK

–white candle red candle black candle

Imagine a blue ball of energy inside the candles. Caress the candles as you chant:

Goddess of Three, I call upon thee,
To protect from those who wish to harm me
Keep them from using the gift from thee
Keep them from using thy gift to harm me

When you finish chanting, imagine the blue ball exploding into lines of blue.
Imagine the lines surrounding you and wrapping you in warm blue energy. See the blue light as a shield. Know that it is unbreakable.

Think about how it is the Goddess’ Light protecting you. Then put the candles someplace where they can burn undisturbed and let them burn themselves out, sending all the energy into your shield. This spell is best performed during the full moon.

For longer effects you can make it a seven-day spell

CANDLE SPELL TO STOP HARASSMENT

CANDLE SPELL TO STOP HARASSMENT

Timing: During the waning moon.

Use a brown candle (an image candle, if you can) to represent the person who is harassing you.Write the person’s name on the front and back of the candle.

On a small piece of parchment paper, write:
‘From now on, (name) will say nothing but sweet words about me and to me.
By the power of Aradia, so mote it be!’

Put a drop of honey in the middle of the paper and roll it into a ball.
Heat a knife, pin or your athame, make a gash in the candle (in its mouth, if it’s an image candle)and stuff the paper ball into it.

Let the candle burn a little while every night for an odd number of nights, to a maximum of nine nights. Throw the remnants into flowing water, but save some candle drippings or ash to sprinkle in the path of your oppressor.

REVERSING CROSSED CONDITIONS WITH A BLACK CANDLE

REVERSING CROSSED CONDITIONS WITH A BLACK CANDLE

If you know who has put a crossed condition on you and you want to reverse the jinx onto them, burn a black candle on their name (putting their name on a paper beneath an overturned saucer under the candle) or carve their name on the candle.

If you don’t know the name of the person who did this trick to you, carve the words “My Enemy” on the candle. Any black candle will do, but if you use a black candle in the figure of the Devil, carve their name on it, and dress it with Cast Off Evil Oil, things will go harder with them.

Burn the black candle on the toilet tank, a little bit each night, pinching it out between burnings. Burn it while the moon is growing smaller — then, on the dark of the moon, the darkest night of the month, turn the burning black candle upside down and extinguish it in the toilet bowl, saying

“Thus will you, [name of enemy], meet your fate!”

Throw the remaining black candle stub and wax into a crossroads — or into the yard of the person who had put the roots on you or jinxed you.

Dragonfly Faery Magick

Dragonfly Faery Magick

Cast this spell in honor of Lorialet, the enchanted son of the Greek Goddess Selene and the Greek God Endymion. He is a poet, musician and sorcerer, who lives on mountain tops, wooded glens, and next to forest lakes, and constantly dreams of the moon. Cats love him and butterflies and dragonflies travel with him wherever he goes.

For this spell, you will need a body of water and a dragonfly sticker. Magick shops, the internet, New Age gift, and health food stores are places to find dragonfly stickers.

After dark when the moon has risen, go outdoors and sit next to a body of water such as a creek, river, pond, lake or ocean. Recite a special poem you have written for Lorialet and the dragonflies or you can recite one of the following: My favorite is a passage from the song “Dragonfly” by Clutch. Other are a-ha’s “Dragonfly” lyrices and Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magick.” Put a copy of the lyrics where you can read them before you go to sleep to encourage dragonfly dreams. Dragonflies are messengers of the Gods. Affix the sticker on your car, refrigerator, or bathroom mirror to remind you of the dragonfly magick all around you.

Kind Brownie Spell

Kind Brownie Spell

Brownies live in England and Scotland (Urisks), and are solitary faeries. They are one to two feet tall, with brown, wizened faces and hair that grows all over their body like teddy bears. They usually go naked but occasionally wear hooded brown cloaks. Brownies come out at night to do the chores when everyone is asleep and are gone by the first cock call. They take care of the household pets, do unfinished jobs such as mowing; threshing; milking; shearing; tending the pets; livestock and farm animals; shoe making; sewing and cleaning. Brownies can bring good fortune to your family provided you treat them well. GIve them food and drink such as milk and cookies to win their favors, but never give them gifts or wages. To encourage a helpful brownie to come to your home, cast this spell tonight.

You will need a broom, a glass of milk and a plate of cookies.

Before you go to sleep, sweep your front doorway and back doorway clean. Also sweep your fireplace or woodstove hearth clean if you have one. Put the glass of milk and cookeis on the counter or table in your kitchen. Say:

I offer this milk and these cookies to the kind and helpful brownies who may grace my home tonight.

As you drift to sleep, repeat over and over:

May the kind and helpful brownies grace my dreams and my home tonight.

In the morning, write everything you recall from your dreams in your journal. Return any remaining milk and cookies to the earth as an offering to the brownines. As you do, say:

Thank you, kind brownies. May you always be blessed!

Over the Moon Spell

Over the Moon Spell

Most everyone is familiar with the nursery rhyme: “Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon; the little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon.” Cast this spell to empower your bond with your pet.

For this spell, you will need your cat or dog, lavender essential oil, and a few drops of lemon juice.

After dark sit with your pet so you can see the night sky. Say the nursery rhyme to your cat or dog. Sit quietly together for a few minutes. Rub behind his or her ears. Tell your pet how much she or he means to you, how much your pet is appreciated. Say three times:

Blessed be (say your pet’s name)

Thank you for your loving company.

Now, pour a few drops of lavender essential oil and a few drops of lemon juice into your hand and rub it onto your cat’s or dog’s fur. Don’t get this mixture near your pet’s head, mouth, nose or eyes. As you rub say quickly (because your pet will take off like a rocket once she or he gets scent of the lavender oil):

May the God and Goddess protect and bless you always!

Star Guide Meditation

Star Guide Meditation

Reconnect with your own stellar heritage with this meditation. Your stellar self acts as a source of energy, love, creativity and enlightenment.

After dark, recline outdoors on the grass or a lounge chair, somewhere safe, where you will not be disturbed and where you can clearly see the stars. If it’s not possible to go outdoors, do this next to a window or door indoors where you can see the stars.

Draw a circle and call in the elements. Ask a favorite deity to enter your circle for guidance and protection. Think of one question

that is pressing upon you right now, a question you really want to know the answer to. Take three deep breaths by breathing in to the count of three, holding your breath for three counts, and then exhaling completely. In your mind’s eye, imagine ascending a beautiful ladder of white light to the stars. With each step you take, you fell more and more comfortably relaxed and in tune with your surroundings. Select a star to focus on. Flow ever upward, higher and higher to the star you have selected. Imagine walking toward the star, closer and closer. Before you is what looks to be a holographic gate made entirely of energy. You find yourself walking through the gate, and as you do so, you sense a subtle popping feeling.

Once you move through the stargate, there is a being of light waiting for you. This being is your star guide and will answer your question. Ask your questions, then listen for the thought-form reply. As you listen to your star guide, you can see the stars all around you. They are alive with energy, living being who are on their own path of evolution. Once you have received your answer, thank your star guide and descend the ladder of white light.

When you are finished, pull up the circle, bid farewell to the elements, and clap your hands three times soundly. Go back inside and lie down in bed. As you drift to sleep, imagine yourself drifting up toward the stars. In the morning write down your dreams in your journal.

Phyllorhodomancy Spell

Phyllorhodomancy Spell

In ancient Greece, rose leaves were used for divination. This is called phyllorhodomancy.

After dark, go outside and pick a rose leaf. Thank the bush for the leaf. Now, take a few deep breaths to clear your mind and center your awareness. Think of a question regarding love that you have. Keep it simple. Focus your attention on the question for a couple of minutes. Next, slap the rose leaf on your hand by holding it in your power hand and slapping it onto the flat palm of your receiving hand firmly. A good clear sound is positive “Yes” answer. A muffled sound is a “No” answer.

7 DAY BANISHMENT OF NEGATIVITY

7 DAY BANISHMENT OF NEGATIVITY

This is a Banishment of negativity spell, but a 7 day candle spell can be used for other workings, like prosperity, health, love etc. (on different days of the week)
This should be undertaken on Saturday (Saturn), and if you want to be more precise, the use Saturn’s hour. You can either choose 12-1 (from midnight) 7-8 am or (from noon) 2-3 PM and 8-9 PM. It doesn’t matter what time you finish, just start at the proper time.
Do this spell during the waning Moon towards the last quarter. Banishment spells are done during the Waning Moon because you want to stifle the negativity.
You will need:
1. Two regular white stick alter candles
2. A glass enclosed candle that will burn for approx. one week. If your local occult store carries the reverse candle with black wax on top and white or red at the bottom, this would be great, otherwise a black, brown, blue or purple is good since these are some of Saturn’s  colors.
3. Banishment or Uncrossing oil – or you can make it by taking the herb of rosemary, black cohosh, basil, eucalyptus, Vervain and sage (some or all) and putting them in some vegetable or olive oil and cooking them lightly for 5-10 minutes (don’t burn), strain into a bottle or  jar.
4. Salt and water for sprinkling (consecration)
5. Incense, a good quality
6. Some parchment paper, but nice stationary will do (approx. 3×3 piece)
Before you start your ritual you may want to air out your space with sage.
Make sure you air out the room with open windows and doors so negative
spirits can depart. This is optional, but a good idea. Be bathed and wear some uncrossing oil.
Wear your ritual clothes or clean garments. Your altar and ritual area should be tidy but have your personal touch on it, with the things that represent you.
Begin by lighting your incense and sprinkle water and salt in the 4 directions, move deosil, or clockwise (dispel). Offer a short prayer in your own words to the elements earth air fire and water to come to your space to purify it. You can include your favorite wights or protectors.
Make this as personal as possible. What matters is what ‘you’ identify with, not trying to identify with some entity you’ve never heard of. Just be sincere, and visualize your space being protected. If you want to draw an imaginary circle moving clockwise, that’s fine too, as long as you indicate the purification of your working space.
After the consecration, light the two white alter candles (protectors) and offer an  invocation/prayer to your main deity and in your own words ask him/her for protection and the banishment of all negative entities that are troubling you, ask him/her to send them back to their origin.
They have no place in your life. Ask for all harm to be turned away from you, leaving behind only prosperity, happiness, courage, acceptance of transitions without doubt and fear, and control over your life.
State that your external forces have no power over you. Again, just be sincere, and whether you do this in a poem form or just simply state it doesn’t matter, just say it with  conviction.
After your invocation, take some banishment oil and “charge” the top of your glass  encased candle with your finger tips, moving deosil, and offer a few words to remove and expel all the negativity around you. Now light the candle.
The parchment paper is your seal. It serves as an amulet, talisman and charm, it will do the work for you. There are many kinds of seals, but it can simply be something you create.
Write your intent or wish on the paper, in this case the banishment of ill-forces and your protection. Then put a few dabs of banishment oil on it and put it under your candle and leave it there until it burns out.
When you’ve finished with your seal, thank your deity and helpful spirits and ask them to depart and do your bidding.
Close the ritual by extinguishing your two main alter candles (never blow on the fire element). Your 7 day candle will stay lit until it burns out, so you may want to have it in an extra glass or metal bowl for safety’s sake, and out of reach for anyone to touch (including Freyja).
This is the end of you ritual. Now evening until the candle burns out, pick a certain time and stick to it, to sit down with your candle anywhere from 15 -30 minutes and seriously and intently focus or meditate on your wish or expectation. It’s always good to start with a prayer or chant, this depends on you particular spiritual practice and whatever suits you.
Never miss a single day. If more than one of you is doing this ritual, you must all sit together each evening for the candle visualization and stick to it.
When the candle finally burns out (7 days, sooner or later), take the seal and burn it, and sprinkle the ashes outside your front door and forget about it

A STONE BANISHING SPELL

A STONE BANISHING SPELL

To be rid of diseases, unhealthy habits, hurt feelings and any other disturbing manifestations of life, hold any stone in your projective hand and visualize the problem in detail.

Visualize the part of you that is to be banished as entering the stone. See the problem and its causes leaving you and infusing the stone.

When you can send no more energy into it, throw the stone onto a hot fire, throwing with it the causes and manifestations of your problem. Stand back the stone may explode. If you have no fire or don’t wish to have rocks exploding, throw the stone into the air or into water, thereby releasing the problem causing energy from your body.

It is done.

Abonde (A Deity of the Witches)

Abonde

Intrinsically linked with the classical goddess Diana, Abonde also went by the names Abundia, Perchta, and Satia.  Abonde led nocturnal hordes of witches through homes and cellars, eating and drinking all they could find.  If food and drink were left as offerings, Abonde would bestow prosperity upon the occupants of the home.  If nothing was left out for her and her followers, she would deny the denizens of her blessings and protection.

The Thesaurus pauperum of 1468 condemned “the idolatrous superstition of those who left food and drink at night in open view for Abundia and Satia, or, as the people said, Fraw Percht and her retinue, hoping thereby to gain abundance and riches.”  The same practice of offering drink, salt, and food to Perchta, “alias domine Habundie,” on certain days had been taken note of and subsequently condemned in 1439 by Thomas Ebendorfer von Haselbach in De decem praeceptis.

According to Roman de la Rose, written at the end of the thirteenth century,
third born children were obligated to travel with Abonde three times a week to the homes of neighbors.  Nothing could stop these people, as they became
incorporeal in the company of Abonde.  Only their souls would travel as their
bodies remained behind immobile.  There was a downside to this astral
projection:  if the body was turned over while the soul was elsewhere, the soul would never return.

In Closing, Pray for Peace Dear Brothers & Sister of The Craft

We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which
we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times
keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings
and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with
generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature
and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being
for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within,
knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

　

We pray for social justice,
for the alleviation of the crippling poverty
that condemns millions of people around the world
to lives of misery – hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving,
who are condemned to homelessness, slave labor, and prostitution,
and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture
even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war,
for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places
through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere,
for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation,
intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping,
training for entertainment, abusive pet owners,
and all other forms of exploitation
such as overloading and overworking pack animals,
bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

 
　

We pray for an end to cruelty,
whether to humans or other animals,
for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving
and the strength we gain in loving;
that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

 
　

We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us,
and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

 

prayer for world peace – dr. jane goodall

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for March 21st

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

At night sometimes the world seems so topsy-turvy and you’re so weary of doing things the same old way. Then nothing seems to please….You try desperately for something new and different, something that doesn’t seem so much like you. Why? Tonight you are different.

One cannot expect the world to be top side up all the time. Such perfection does not come so easily to human nature. And always there is a search for something new and different. A change of pace….that thought that I don’t want to be me today, to think my thoughts and do my daily chores. I want to make a complete change now, to know a whole new way of life. And it is good to leave behind the many daily situations that sometimes stand too closely to be seen clearly, but to be wise enough to know which things should be left behind.

There have been clean sweeps that have left behind the dearest things….and have taken along the same dreary, dark unhappy things of the mind that should have been left behind.

A line from the prayer of serenity is “The wisdom to know the difference….” And wisdom says Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is common sense in an uncommon degree. If one has the wisdom to wait a bit, wait until morning – or several mornings – that uncommon degree of common sense will give us the wisdom to know the difference.

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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones……and also for those who don’t have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder’s Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 21

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 21

“The manner with which we walk through life is each man’s most important responsibility, and we should remember this with every new sunrise.”

–Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

Every spiritual person should carry a vision of God’s will in every area of their life. One day at a time, each morning at sunrise, we should spend time praying to the Creator. We should say something like, my Creator, this morning I ask you to show me, in terms I can understand, what you have or me to do. By doing this daily, over time, we will develop an unquestionable vision. Each person is responsible for taking the time to do this. It will bring great joy and peace of mind to those warriors who do.

My Creator, give me the vision, today, of what you want me to do.

March 21 – Daily Feast

March 21 – Daily Feast

Other people have problems the same way we do. If the get loud about them, we don’t have to react. Resistance makes difficult times even more difficult to handle. It helps not to threaten but to let things cool down naturally. The Cherokee word for this is, to hi ge se s di, making peace, or peace for the earth. Forgiveness seems to be a necessity for so many things that are wrong. Forgiveness never degrades but elevates, and is not to let someone else get away with something but to free ourselves from an entanglement. It frees us from bitter resentment that can make us sick – and can help heal the sickness if it is already there. Eventually, it makes us glad that we did not react, doing and saying things for which we would later be sorry.

~ They fight among themselves, but if you strike at them they will turn on you. ~

LITTLE CROW, 1951

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

New, Old, or Returning to your Path…

New, Old, or Returning to your Path…

Author: Darksky

Firstly, like anything else in life no matter where you’re at in your stage, degree, or practice of the Magickal arts, you’re not the only one that has felt the way you do. We have all been overwhelmed, frustrated, unsure, or confused. New, old, or returning let me say congratulation and welcome! Taking the first step is always a big decision, but you did and now your here.

So now what? You have read everything in print, you have spoken to folks who practice the craft, you have heard from craft store owners, and of course people with their own witch/occult web site. I would say, take everything that you have heard with a grain of salt and do some research. Do not always take what you read or hear so literally. Getting into anything new or returning to it needs a point of origin.

Start with the basics, you cant do advanced work if you haven’t got a good working concept of the basics, and should you be rusty go back and review. True, there is so much to learn, but there are so many paths, traditions, and pantheons to experience. Patience, and being methodical will yield knowledge, safety, and rewards for all your hard work.

So…back to an origin, a jumping off point, Magick is the control of ones own environment, to be able to manifest change in ones self and ones surrounds. So how do we achieve this if we are not in control, distracted, or unsure? To just read books, take classes, buy tools, light candles, deal tarot cards, and attend seminars and book signings are merely actions. Magick without intention and intuition is incomplete and void. A magician needs to have confidence, intuition, and be able to infuse, inject, and penetrate every single aspect of his or her work with intention.

While magick is the art of control in order to manifest, it is also a connection with the universe, nature and the Lord and Lady, that is true, but more importantly it is a connection with ones self.
Self is so vital to magick. True magick is practiced without ego, but without knowing ones self, is it possible?

New, old or returning to your path, your thinking am I ready, have I read enough, how will I know if I doing it right? You may be thinking “I need a teacher, some one to tell me if I’m doing it right.” Sound familiar?

What you need is to learn to listen to yourself, feel the flow of magick, feel nature, feel the universe, and make and keep that connection with the Lord and Lady in your own way. Magick is without doubt, but it’s not without planning, studying, execution, re-evaluation, and perfecting. Never sell yourself short, or underestimate your abilities. I mentioned it before in another post, all the best and great magicians all started out on their journey the same as you and I, with a curiosity and yearning to be more, a feeling akin to something was missing, in short a calling.

You don’t need a certificate, or a degree program that says you are a witch. You will know if you are or aren’t. Would all the great magicians have been lesser practitioners if they had not attended classes? Don’t get me wrong, instruction is good and having someone impart his or her experience and mistakes can be an asset to your practice, if used as a resource. You need to make the magick you practice and craft your own.

Take all you read, hear, try, and are taught and refine it to suit your needs. What works for one witch may not have such a positive outcome for another witch. Write your own spells, your own rituals, make your own oils/incense. Study with out doubt, listen to what the elements, spirits, and the universe have to offer you and make it your own. Practicing the craft and being a witch isn’t the same for everyone. The early magicians that started out with the Golden Dawn took what they learned and applied and formed their own brand of magick. Alex and Maxine Sanders developed their own brand of magick; as did Gardner and Crowley, just to name a few. Christopher Penczak was a Laurie Cabot taught witch and he went on to develop his own brand, as I’m sure Laurie Cabot did.

Magick is personal, intimate, and forever growing. It’s always developing within all of us. Practicing the craft is just that it’s practice, hard work and commitment. Constantly revisit your BOS, and your rituals and styles of writing and preparations to become more in tune with the surrounds and yourself, until you reach a level of proficiency and confidence and belief, but in no way cocky or arrogant. Re-evaluate your workings, combinations of colors, planetary hours, days and nights of the week, and most of all your intentions and intuitions.

We all get a little lax in any en-devour and may look to a quicker way of doing things, and sometimes that a good thing. Magick and the practice of it, is not about the quick and easy way. Slow, methodical, purposeful, with anticipation and excitement. Never bite the magickal hand that feeds you.

So new, old, or returning to your path go slow, prioritize, research, meditate, question, experiment, re-evaluate, and keep silent, remember Crowley said, “Every man and every woman is a star”. Believe it!

 

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Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Paganism is wholesome because it faces the facts of life.
Aleister Crowley

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.
Albert Einstein

“Do what thou will shall be the whole of the law, love is the law. Love under will.”
Aleister Crowley

What Is A Druid, Anyway?

What Is A Druid, Anyway?

Author: Ellen Evert Hopman

There are many different Druid Orders and as is the case with most Pagan groupings, no two Druids will see things in exactly the same way.

To further confuse matters there is a different focus and feel to American Druid Orders and English ones. I can only speak for myself, as an American Druid of the  (Ord Na Darach Gile) .

History:

“Gaine daughter of pure Gumor,
nurse of mead-loving Mide,
surpassed all women though she was silent

she was learned and a seer and a chief Druid.”

(From The Metrical Dindsenchas, Gwynn translation, 1903)

There is plenty of evidence that women as well as men were Druids in ancient times. Druids presided at divinations and sacrifices and praised the Gods, but the primary task of all grades of Druids was to follow an intellectual path.

The Druids were the learned class of the ancient Celts, analogous to the Brahmins of India.

Both Hindu and Celtic culture are derived from the same proto-Indo-European roots. The caste system of the Hindus and the caste system of the Celts were essentially the same; both were fluid, that is one could move up or down the social ladder depending on skill and learning (it was only in the 10th century that Hinduism “froze” its caste system – a reaction to invaders from outside) .

The Druid was analogous to the Brahmin, the warrior to the Kshatria. There were the producer class of farmers and craftsmen and finally the slaves who were analogous to the Hindu untouchables. Among Druids there were specialists; it seems unlikely that every Druid was mistress of every Druidical function. Druids did not commit their knowledge to writing; important facts were memorized and passed down orally.

A Druid could be a Sencha, or historian for the tribe. They could be a Brehon, in which case they would have memorized volumes of Brehon Law making them eligible to be a lawyer, a judge, or an ambassador. A Druid could also be a Scelaige, or keeper of myths and epics. These myths were recited at important occasions like weddings and births, at the onset of a major journey or a battle.

The Cainte was a master of magical chants, invocations and curses. They could banish or bless with a song. The Cruitire was a harpist who knew the magical uses of music; she was mistress of the “three kinds of music:” laughing music (the sound of young men at play) , crying music (the sound of a woman in the travails of childbirth) , and sleeping music (the sound of which would put a person to sleep) .

The Druid might be a Liaig, a doctor who used surgery, herbs and magic to heal, or a Deoghbaire, a cupbearer who knew the properties of intoxicating and hallucinogenic substances.

Further specialties included the Faith, or diviner, the Bard, who was a popular poet and singer, and the highest grade of Druid, the Fili, a sacred poet and diviner whose words were prophetic.

Like Sorcerers, Druids performed feats of magic in the service of the king or queen and in the service of the tribe.

“Then Mogh Roith said to Ceann Mor: ‘Bring me my poison-stone, my hand-stone, my hundred-fighter, my destruction of my enemies.’

This was brought to him and he began to praise it, and he proceeded to put a venomous spell on it…”

(Forbhais Droma Damhghaire, Sean O’Duinn translation)

Druids were the teachers of the sons and daughters of the nobility. It was their task to hand down from generation to generation the knowledge of sacred animals, trees, plants, stones and all the details of the landscape, its history and how each feature got its name, as well as the tribal laws and precedents.

In contrast to village Cunningmen and Wisewomen (Witches) , who were counselors, midwives, magicians, herbalists, and veterinarians for their community, the Druids advised and worked closely with the nobility. A king or queen was a person from the warrior class who had spent their entire life learning the arts of defense and war, who was then elevated to the “Nemed” or sacred class by means of an elaborate ritual.

Druids were hereditary members of the Nemed class who had spent their lives learning the laws. A king or queen had to have a Druid advisor by their side at all times so that they could rule according to precedent. The stories of Arthur and Merlin are a good illustration of this relationship.

The justice of the king was so important that it would determine whether strong and good-looking children would be born to the people and if the weather, crops and animals would prosper.

There is evidence that the Druids supervised at human sacrifices. However, there is no evidence of the type of wholesale immolation in wicker cages reported by Julius Caesar. It is well to remember that Caesar was attempting to paint the Druids in a lurid light in order to get funding from Rome to continue his military campaigns and further his personal political ambitions. It seems likely that prisoners of war and criminals were dispatched in much the same way as we do it today, after judgment and sentencing.

The Druids were persecuted by the Romans and killed off in many Celtic areas.

However, the Romans never got to the extreme north of Caledonia (Scotland) nor did they invade Ireland. As a result Druids and their teachings persisted for many centuries. The Bards were able to continue to disseminate Druid teachings via story and song.

Who the Druids Were Not:

The Druids were not priests and priestesses of Atlantis, nor were they a lost tribe of Israel. Early English historians could not imagine that groups such as the Irish (whom they considered to be backward and inferior) could possibly have produced such a class of noble intellectuals and clergy.

The Druids did not build Stonehenge or the magnificent cairns of the Boyne Valley; Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange, which were built by pre-Indo-European, Bronze Age peoples. However, it is quite likely that the Druids used those monuments. In the case of the Irish structures, there is plenty of mythological evidence that the Iron Age Celts and their Druids revered these sites as sacred.

The Druids were not proto-Christians. They had their own system of ethics and deities that pre-dated Christianity.

Core Beliefs:

All of which brings us to the difficult question of what it means to be a Druid in the new millennium.

All modern Druids attempt to honor Celtic tradition. They also understand that there is no fully intact tradition of Druidism that stretches back to ancient times and that of necessity every Druid Order must create its own ritual form.

Some are happy to include recent speculations, such as the poetry of Robert Graves (inventor of the Celtic Tree Calendar) and others try to stick to more rigorously researched, scholastically verifiable sources.

It is more common to find practicing Christians among the English Orders. American Druid Orders, such as Whiteoak, Keltria, and ADF, place a larger emphasis on Pagan Celtic scholarship, seeing themselves as lore keepers for Pagan Celtic cultural, religion and magical tradition.

Irish Druidism is often concerned with the Forest Druid tradition, seeking to keep alive the ancient woods lore of the forest dwellers of the Elizabethan era and earlier.

As in the past, modern Druids tend to be intellectually curious, reading voraciously on subjects such as Celtic tribal law, history, philosophy, poetry, magic, religion, mythology, spirituality, traditional healing methods, music, archaeology and astronomy. They use these studies to create ceremonies that honor the Earth and the Celtic pantheon of Gods.

The Druids are not a male priesthood. There are a few popular authors and at least one old English Order that try to perpetuate that idea, but they are in the minority and do not represent the majority of Druids today. Druids are not among those who seek to exploit or ignore the Earth in Her time of need. They recognize that nature hangs in a delicate balance and that all life must be tended with care.

Druids do not ignore the needs of the people. As in ancient times they care for the welfare of the people, giving comfort in times of sickness and death, rejoicing in each other’s life passages and achievements, and seeking to advise, as best they can, the secular leaders of their towns, states and nations. They donate time and money to religious, cultural and humanitarian projects that capture their imaginations.

In short, Druidism is not a solitary path. The Druid is not isolated from her spiritual community, her town, her city, her nation or the world.

Ways of Worship:

Druids love nature and seek to know the land they live on intimately, observing seasonal and astronomical changes and animal behaviors as timing for festivals and as portents for the future.

Druids honor rivers, trees, mountains, green herbs, rocks, animals and every living thing. The Whiteoak Druids, for example, take an oath to protect “the Earth and Her creatures, ” making offerings to trees, stones, and to the local River Goddess of the Druid’s bioregion. Druids place an emphasis on praising the Gods and less of an emphasis on magic, using song, poetry, and crafts to express their love and kinship with their chosen deities. Druids make offerings to fire and water as a regular part of their rituals, in keeping with ancient Indo-European tradition.

Celtic Reconstructionist Druids, in keeping with tradition, work with the Three Worlds (Land, Sea and Sky) more than the Four Directions. Druids invoke and thank the ancestors, the Nature Spirits and the Gods in their rites. Druids are true polytheists, understanding each deity as a distinct individual with His or Her unique likes, dislikes, and spheres of influence. Among Druids it is considered somewhat rude to bring deities from different religions and cultures together in the same circle and every effort is made to work within genuine Celtic pantheons.

A Witch’s circle is a closed space, designed to hold and contain energy to build it into a “cone of power.” A Druid circle is a permeable affair; persons may walk in and out at will. Since part of the energy raising involves inviting the Nature Spirits to participate, Druids feel that there is no point in walling off the circle. Druid ceremonies are most often performed out of doors, ideally in the presence of living water, a fire, and a tree (or a pole or staff substitute) .

Modern Druids do not practice animal or human sacrifice, regarding hard work and artistic achievements as adequate offerings.

The major festivals of the Druids are: Samhain, the ritual end of the harvest season and great festival to honor the dead; Imbolc, a festival especially dedicated to the Goddess Brighid; Beltaine, the beginning of Summer and Lughnasad, the start of the harvest season and a festival dedicated to Lugh and His foster mother. These festivals are known as “Fire Festivals.”

Many Druids also celebrate the Equinoxes and Solstices and some meet at the full or new moons

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Reading and Other References:

For a list of links to the major Druid Orders, book lists and service projects please see:
Sources:

Breatnach, Liam (translator) ; Uraicecht Na Riar, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, 1987.

Hopman, Ellen Evert; A Druids Herbal, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, 1995.

Kelly, Fergus; A Guide To Early Irish Law, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, 1991.

Kelly, Fergus (translator) ; Audacht Morainn, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, 1976.

Markale, Jean; The Druids, Celtic Priests of Nature, Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT, 1999.

Matthews, John; The Druid Source Book, Blanford Press, London, 1996.

Ellen Evert Hopman