Druidry

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Today is the Day!!!

A new chapter of my life has begun, with the release of the first book in my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest. Hedge Witch is Book 1, and forms a trilogy before we move on to other characters, and their stories, throughout the rest of the series. I am so excited, and I hope you all enjoy this new series. And Book Two, The Veil Between the Worlds, is on track for a December release!

Paperback and Kindle editions are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Witch-Witches-Forest-Book/dp/B0DLLFZDKM/

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It’s out tomorrow!

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Samhain: The Origins of Hallowe’en

This article is in response to an article in my local village newsletter, declaring the so-called “evils” of Hallowe’en. Hallowe’en is not evil and is, in fact, a very ancient British tradition that spread to North America.

Hallowe’en stems from an ancient British tradition of the Celtic peoples. It was, and still is known as the festival of Calan Gaeaf (Welsh) or Samhain (Irish) which begins at sunset on the 31st October and runs to sunset on the1st November accordingly. The Celtic year was divided into two halves, the light half and the dark half. The light half began at the beginning of May, which marked the start of summer. The dark half began at Samhain (Irish) or Calan Gaeaf (Welsh) which marked the start of winter. The word Samhain is thought to be derived from “summer’s end”, being a linguistic inversion of sam-fuin.  Samhain is a time that lies between times, and is a time that is not a time. It is the end of summer, and marks the time just before we enter the dark half of the year, often referred to as the Celtic New Year. It is a liminal time, and begins at dusk on 31st October on the calendrical year. (All Celtic holidays begin at dusk, the day before the calendrical date.) Some Druids follow a more agricultural or seasonal calendar, and celebrate Samhain when the first frosts appear. 

Samhain is known popularly today as Hallowe’en. This stems from the Christian Hallowmass. What is interesting to note is that the Feast of All Saints, which follows the day after Hallowmass used to take place in May. It was moved in 834 to the 1st November, presumably to compete with the more Pagan traditions in an attempt to move the common folk away from such beliefs and practices.

Samhain is a time to remember the dead, and to welcome them. The dead are never far from us, and the Celtic worldview comprised a sort of ancestor veneration found the world over in Pagan traditions. Deceased relatives could come and visit the home, and so door were often left unlocked so that they could enter. Some use the tradition of a “Dumb Supper”, where food and places are laid out alongside the family’s fare for the dead, and the meal is eaten in silence. These plates were then taken outside as offerings to the spirits and the Fair Folk. Hollowing out turnips or sugar beets, and later pumpkins (which were/are much easier to carve) and placing a candle inside could provide a lantern by which the dead could find their way. Candles may have been left in windows as well, to help guide the way. Apples as well have a place at this festival, for one of the traditions was for a maiden to peel an apple and throw the peel over her shoulder: the letter that it formed was the initial of the name of the man she would marry. The custom of bobbing for apples is also thought to derive from Samhain traditions, with the lucky (and wet!) winners receiving fortune for the rest of the year. Brushing your hair and eating an apple while looking in a mirror at Samhain was said to reveal in the reflection the face of your true love. Modern-day trick or treating is said to come from the ancient buachaillí tui, disguised people who characterised the dead and lead a white mare (hobby horse) called Láir Bhán. This horse was symbolic of the goddess of the land.

At Samhain, when we arrive at summer’s end, is a liminal time. The veils between this world and the Otherworld are thin, and so we see the custom of dressing up or guising to protect the living from the “unhappy dead”. It could also be seen as an acknowledgement of the dead returning, and as a sort of celebration of the fact.

Samhain was celebrated by the Druids in Ireland high on the hilltops with fire, from an ancient ritual on Tlachtga or the Hill or Ward in Meath.  Tlachtga was sacred to the Druids, whereas Tara was the place of the High King. Tlachta could be viewed from Tara, and a fire on Tara may have been lit in response, allowing the Druid’s to light their fire first, in their role as advisors.  The Feast of Tara took place three days before and three days after Samhain. There is an alignment of the sun and moonrise from at Samhain from Tlachtga to a standing stone in Slieve na Caileach and also Lambay Island. Tara has an alignment from the Samhain sunrise to “Lugh’s Seat” at the “Pillars of Samhain” and a cairn dedicated to the goddess, Mór-Ríoghan above the Keash caves in County Sligo.  In Irish tradition many ancient hills and fairyforts were connected by paths which the Sidhe were said to travel. At Samhain, the Celts would be taking their cattle down from the high grounds to their winter lodgings, and so would the Fairy Folk. It was wise to avoid the fairy paths or alignments on this day/night for this very reason.

At Glastonbury in Somerset, England, the Wild Hunt is said to ride out of the hill of Glastonbury Tor, with Gwyn ap Nudd, the Lord of Annwn at its head. He collects the souls of those who have died over the past year, and acts in the role of psychopomp, leading the souls to their rightful place in the Otherworld or afterlife. Fire rituals may well have been a part of ancient ceremony on the Tor, being a hill that could be seen for many miles in the surrounding flat countryside. Recently, a Samhain fire festival honouring The Wild Hunt now takes place at Glastonbury Tor every year, and is hugely popular, with modern-day Druids officiating the ceremonies.

In County Derry in Ireland, they celebrate the Spirit of Samhain, or Spiorad na Samhna. It is a hugely popular event, with over 30,000 people coming to participate and enjoy the festivities today, with a parade and fireworks, acrobats, fire-breathers, stories, song and more. This is echoed in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the Beltane Fire Society also holds a Samhuinn event every year. This began in 1995 and has grown ever since, with street performance and theatre in the heart of the city. A large, dramatic ritual ceremony is created and re-enacted each year by different groups which include dancers, drummers, actors and more.

So as you can see, Hallowe’en is not evil. It is an ancient tradition which people across Britain are still practicing today. It is a celebration and veneration of our ancestors, much as others festivals across the world do at this time of year, such as Dios de los Meurtos, or the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Simply because something is not Christian, doesn’t make it evil.

Resources:

Baker, Des “Spiora na Samhna”, Underground Short Film Festival, 2015

Butler, Dr Jenny ” The Festival of Samhain & Halloween in Ireland “, Crypt Interview

Eastwood, Luke “Tlachtga and the Ancient Roots of Hallowe’en/Samhain”, Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids

Hutton, R. (2011) Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain: Yale University Press

Restall Orr, (2016) E. This Ancient Heart 2016 Moon Books

Restall Orr, E. (2004) Living Druidry: Magical Spirituality for the Wild Soul: London: Piatkus Books Ltd

Talboys, G. (2002) Way of the Druid: Rebirth of an Ancient Religion: O Books

Telyndru, J. (2005) Avalon Within: A Sacred Journey of Myth, Mystery and Inner Wisdom

van der Hoeven, J. (2014) The Awen Alone: Walking the Path of the Solitary Druid: Moon Books

van der Hoeven, J. (2021) The Book of Hedge Druidry: A Complete Guide for the Solitary Seeker: Llewellyn Worldwide

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Some Words about my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest, and Book 1: Hedge Witch!

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The Struggle is Real

Pagan books sales have gone down radically in the last year and a half, despite the increasing number of books being made available. It seems to reflect what many of us authors have been worried about for several years now. The sales aren’t even made up with e-books, as those have dropped significantly as well. Audiobooks for non-fiction still aren’t that popular either, and the revenue from them has always been minimal. So why is there this sudden and sharp decline in books sales?

When I first started learning about and practicing various forms of Paganism in the early 1990’s, books and events were the go-to places to gather the information that I sought out. The choice of books available in the bookstores was only a handful stuffed somewhere in the “New Age” section. The internet didn’t exist, but you could order books from glossy catalogues that companies such as Llewellyn provided, which wasn’t too bad if you lived in the US but if you lived anywhere else, the shipping fees were astronomical. And so you just had to make do with what your local bookstore provided. If you were lucky to have a witchy type shop near you, the selection was a little better, but shelf space was always at a premium. And we didn’t even bother much with libraries back then, because they would never stock those sorts of books in the first place. Finding books to read was a real struggle, but such a joy when you did find one that resonated with you.

The coming of the internet was a huge blessing for the Pagan community who wanted to connect with others, talk about authors and books and find solace with others when the community was so small and so widespread. Books began to be marketed online, which was a real boon to the publishing industry. And yet, with more people online than ever before, what has happened to book sales lately? Surely they should still be increasing?

Nope. I’ve talked to my publishers, I’ve talked to other authors and everyone is seeing a real downturn in books sales. We’ve been scratching our heads, trying to figure out why. As book lovers ourselves, it’s difficult to fathom how this downturn has come about so suddenly. So here is my take on what’s going on, and how it could very well spell the end of non-fiction books in the coming future.

  1. People can get information for free online. As people are online more and more and there are so many different channels to get information from, why buy a book? You could watch a video, read a blog and receive a ton of information anywhere for free. I know that if I was a youngster just starting out, the majority of my information would be garnered from this form of transmission simply because it is free.
  • People don’t have spare cash to buy books right now. Everyone I know is hurting more and more financially, and if it comes down to buying your groceries for the week or buying a book, you will buy the food. I hope.
  • You can find pirated copies of pretty much anything online. Need I say more?
  • Attention spans are waning. It’s a fact. “In the early 2000s, she and her team tracked people while they used an electronic device and noted each time their focus shifted to something new—roughly every 2.5 minutes, on average. In recent repeats of that experiment, she says, the average has gone down to about 47 seconds.” https://time.com/6302294/why-you-cant-focus-anymore-and-what-to-do-about-it/ (I actually had trouble reading this article, not because of attention span but because four different pop-ups kept interrupting my reading. Oh, the irony.)
  • When a book is released, it is competing will millions of other books these days. With so much choice, it’s wonderful for the reader out there. But for the author? It seriously dilutes the sales. Unless you have a slick marketing team that works for you.
  • Authors can’t afford slick marketing teams. The shift in lots of publishing has been to place the onus of marketing up on the author, as the publishers have to make cuts somewhere just to stay competitive. Most authors aren’t marketers. I spent nearly a decade in marketing for a world-famous music venue here in England. That has seen me in good stead for the last ten years, but even now I’m struggling against a tide of everything that I’ve mentioned above.

The struggle is real, folks. I hope one day that books will have a resurgence, that cosying up with a book on a rainy day will replace hiding under your duvet with your smartphone. There is just something about a book, something that feels like an old friend you can turn to, something that you can hold in your hands, that ages even as you age, the feel of something material rather than something immaterial.

 Go analogue for a while. Slow down. Smell the books along the way. Because who knows how long they’ll be here?

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The Season of Change

The Autumn Equinox is a brief moment in time where we are poised on the knife’s edge, about to tumble from summer into winter. It is a liminal time, where the transition from the long summer days to the long winter nights is keenly felt. The winds blow differently and stronger, the evenings are creeping in, the sun is not as high in the sky and offers a golden slant in the afternoons. The leaves are changing, the green is melting into golds and the riotous season of growth has ended. The deer have shed the velvet from their antlers and are fattening up, preparing for the rut. Acorns begin to ripen and fall from the oaks; beech nuts and hazelnuts too. Jays and squirrels are caching their nuts and badgers delight in the longer shadows and plentiful food.

For us humans, it is also a time of harvest. The apples are ripe and ready, the potatoes and onions form the second harvest after the cereal crops were gathered in August. Tractors rumble through the tiny village streets with loaded wagons full of produce, taking them to large storehouses or shipping trucks to dispense throughout the country. It is a busy time, with lots of dust in the air and the moon and sun often rising red in the lower atmosphere.

In an age when we can get almost any fruit and veg from a large superstore at any time of year, the importance of harvest is often lost to many. Why celebrate a harvest festival when we have supermarkets on our doorsteps? What need do we have to honour this important time of our ancestors? We live in the here and now, some may say. But all the food that is available in the supermarkets and stores comes from somewhere, from a place that had to work with the elements and seasons in order to grow the food, to take in the energy of that land to produce something that will sustain us. This is what is important, and why it is also important to remember this time for our ancestors of the not so distant past. It has only been in the last twenty or thirty years that all sorts of produce has become readily available throughout the year. When we forget the hardships of our ancestors, we forget a large part of their stories and where we came from, taking for granted many of the liberties that we live with today.

There’s a joy to be found in remembrance. There is also a joy in the turning of the seasons, from the light to the dark, from the harvest to the hunt, from summer to winter. Celebrating these turning points helps us to keep moving with the flow instead of getting stuck wishing that it was still summer. We allow the energy of the season to move freely through out bodies, as we should in any earth-based religion or spirituality. Nothing stays the same, and acceptance of that is perhaps the greatest gift that we can give to ourselves.

So honour this wonderful time. Celebrate the shift from shorts to jeans, drink all the pumpkin spice coffee you desire, wear hats and scarves and kick up autumn leaves on the path. Drink in the scent of woodsmoke and decay, feel the fresh breezes on your face. Settle in with a good book on the longer nights, light a candle and let your imagination roam. Think of the ancestors as you bite into that freshly picked apple, and honour all the changes that you yourself have undertaken.

Blessings of the Autumn Equinox, Mabon and Alban Elfed to you all.

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The Mabon Debate

There is some debate in the Pagan community about using the word ‘Mabon’ to refer to the Autumn Equinox. In 1974, Aiden Kelly was looking for a name to put to the Autumn Equinox that had similarities to the descent of Kore or Persephone. He chose Mabon from Welsh literature, the son who was stolen away from his mother and which Culhwch was tasked to find to win the hand of the beautiful Olwen. With the aid of King Arthur he did indeed free Mabon from his imprisonment, as told in the Tale of Culhwch and Olwen in the Mabinogi.

At first glance, it would appear that Mabon’s disappearance and rescue has very little to do with the equinox, and the similarities between his story and that of Kore can appear tenuous at best. However, there are other aspects to Mabon that do very much relate to the Autumn Equinox, which I haven’t seen discussed anywhere (but that may just be because I live in a cave deep in the woods).

I think the most important aspect of Mabon is that it was said that he was the greatest hunter of all time. And when does hunting season begin? For the majority of hunted animals which here in the UK are birds, it is around the Autumn Equinox when the season really gets underway. Deer hunting technically starts at the beginning of August, but the deer are hard to find as they are still hiding away from the summer’s heat until it gets dark. It is around the Autumn Equinox when you are able to see them out again during the day, from late afternoon onwards.

It is also when the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) becomes more visible in the night sky, albeit still in the east before dawn but slowly awakening and becoming more ‘upright’ so that he can stride across our skies followed by his hound during the winter months. As well, it’s when the temperature shifts, and the warmth leaves us as the cold northerly winds begin to blow, hinting at the Wild Hunt and winter’s reign to come. So yes, for me the honouring Mabon as the hunter does make sense at this time of year, though that may not have been the original intention.

Some argue that our ancient ancestors did not care about the autumn or spring equinox. To that, I would say look to our ancient megaliths.  In 1966, C. A. ‘Steve’ Newham found an alignment for the equinoxes at Stonehenge by drawing a line between one of the Station Stones with a posthole next to the Heel Stone. The equinox sunrise is beautifully framed by the Gossan Stones in the Wicklow Mountains, Ireland. Callanish in Scotland has an alignment with the equinox, and so does Newgrange in Ireland. Most of these places are famed for their solstice alignments, but they also do have other alignments which are not only solar, but lunar as well.

At the Autumn Equinox here in the rural British countryside we are also in the thick of harvest season, which begins at the start of August and runs through to the end of October. As such, some people argue that we should be celebrating Harvest Home. I love that name, but the origins are unclear. It may have been derived from Germanic Pagan traditions that have since been co-opted by the Christian Church, but we can’t quite be sure of its Pagan roots. Harvest Home services are held in many local, rural churches including the one in my own little village on the Suffolk Coast in the East of England. Today Harvest Home is now very much associated with Christianity. That’s not to say that we can’t incorporate it into our own festivals, because it’s what traditions from all over the world have done and still do over time. We learn, borrow and make stuff our own all the time. The Romans were masters at it. But that leads us to the argument of cultural appropriation.

The cultural appropriation argument against Mabon is that it is using a Welsh word/cultural hero and throwing it into ritual without awareness or regard for where it came from. And this is a wholly important thing to consider. However after you’ve done the research, and you find Mabon is known as the greatest hunter then the correlations to this time of hunting and harvesting make more sense, and seem less tenuous. As well, if we believe that we shouldn’t be using Welsh words in our Wiccan, Witchcraft, Druid [insert name of Pagan tradition here] then we really shouldn’t be using Samhain, or Beltane, or Imbolc, should we? We are using the words that have lasted through the years, but if we are not Irish or Scottish for instance, should we even be using these words in our traditions? I think of how many people today still say that Samhain is the Celtic New Year. On the flipside of that, I wonder how many people honour the god Belenus at Beltane? These are all Gaelic words that have been co-opted and given a different flair for various rituals in different Pagan traditions today that sometimes retain very little of the original source.

So should we rewrite all our traditions’ rituals and give them all new names?

Maybe.

But I still like Mabon.

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The Three Realms of Druidry: The Land

A new video is now up on my YouTube channel, the first of a three-part series on the The Realms of Druidry (Land, Sea and Sky). I hope you like it!

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What Is Hedge Druidry?

There seems to be some confusion over just what Hedge Druidry is, even in the Druid community. I should hope that my writing will clear up some of this confusion and misperception, and for a full account there is always the work that I am most proud of, which is The Book of Hedge Druidry: A Complete Guide for the Solitary Seeker. However, here in blog post I will address some of the misconceptions, and share my love, knowledge and experience of the tradition.

Let’s begin with one of the latest misconceptions that I have come across. I have read in a recently released book on Druidry that Hedge Druids are those “who believe that each Druid can make it up as they go along, collecting bits of lore and ways of worshipping from disparate sources, Druid or not, both ancient and recently invented.” The tone of this seems to be a bit condescending and condemning, and perhaps comes from an uninformed point of view regarding Hedge Druidry as a specific tradition.

Hedge Druidry is deeply connected to the culture, language and study of ancient and modern Druidry. Without that, it wouldn’t be Druidry. Only by understanding the history and context of Druidry, both ancient and modern, can we create an inspirational tradition today that is rooted in the past, but not chained to it. For Druidry does evolve, in order to be relevant to today’s world. But the above statement isn’t entirely untrue either, though probably not in the light that it was presented.

Do we make it up as we go along? Well I much prefer spontaneous ritual, that’s for certain. My words in ritual are never written down. I have an idea of what I am going to say, along with the ritual actions and intention based upon my decades of research into Druidry and the many, many rituals that I have performed over the years. I might write down my ritual beforehand, especially if I am sharing it with others, with a set ritual format to follow, but the words, the feelings and motions are totally spontaneous, deeply in the moment and connected to the spirits of time and place. My rituals are based on a knowledge and love of Celtic lore and my rituals, offerings, and prayers are all rooted in that soil. I have studied Druid ritual in many, many forms and, as no one single tradition of Druidry has survived since ancient times, we are all just trying to create rituals that are sound and which are inspiring, which connect us to the time, place, ancestors and deities based on what we know from history and what is meaningful today. Druidry has no liturgy, but many of my own rituals and those of other Hedge Druids follow a stylised format entrenched in Celtic lore and deeply connected to the land. It gives us an outline to follow, to which our spontaneous words spoken in the moment to those who are with us, both human and other-than-human, can witness.

Do we collect bits of lore and ways of worshipping from disparate sources, Druid or not, both ancient and recently invented? Of course we do. So do all Druids, whether they are Celtic Reconstructionist or from any other branch on the Druidic tree. We have ancient Classical Greek accounts, Roman accounts, and Irish and Welsh records written by Christian monks. We also pull from modern archaeology and, for some, the Romantic and other Revival periods in history, art and literature. We also look through the lens of comparative religion, in order to better understand and make links to the Druid tradition where there might be gaps in the knowledge, looking at shared proto-Indo European roots such as with Hinduism.

As well, there is the importance of the hedge in Hedge Druidry, which is often forgotten, not mentioned or not even known to some in the Druid community.

So just what is Hedge Druidry then? Well, here’s an excerpt from the beginning of my book, The Book of Hedge Druidry:

The Hedge Druid is a more recent term that applies to someone who walks the Druid path for the most part alone, using their wit and intelligence, the wisdom gained from long hours of research and practical experience in order to create their own tradition that is right for them and their environment. The term “hedge” when applied to Druidry stems from the 19th century term, “hedge priest”, which denoted a priest of the Christian faith who did not follow a particular or established tradition, had no church per se and who preached “from the hedgerow”. The term was first applied to Witchcraft in modern Paganism, and popularised by the author Rae Beth. The term then spread to Druidry, and became synonymous with solitary practitioners, who were not part of any Order or Grove or other established sect. Not all solitary practitioners of Druidry would call themselves Hedge Druids, however it is a term that is growing in popularity. However, in this work I shall show how Hedge Druidry goes beyond the notion of a solitary practitioner, into something that is deeper and more connected to the natural world.

The Hedge Druid is also one who rides the hedge, who travels between the worlds, who works with boundaries and the liminal places where the edges blend and meet. The term “hedge-riding” is a practice found in the Pagan community, mostly in Witchcraft traditions. It stems from the German word hagazissa which means “hedge sitter”. The Saxon term is “haegtessa” and both are where we get our word “hag”. Someone who rides the hedge can straddle the worlds, this world and the Otherworld, to bring back wisdom and information to use in our world, the Middleworld. We will learn more about the importance of the hedge and also hedge riding in later chapters. Suffice it to say that working with the boundaries of the civilised world and that which lies beyond the hedgerow is the world of the Hedge Druid, connecting and weaving together those threads to shape the world and find balance and harmony with the whole. It is the known world and the wilderness beyond that shapes and informs our earth-based tradition.

For me, Druidry is mostly a solitary path, though I do belong to some Druid Orders and networks, and celebrate the seasons with a few friends.  But the everyday Druidry, the currents of intention that flow through me and my home and through the landscape where I live is my main focus.  It is a mostly solitary pursuit. Like learning, I always preferred to do it on my own, rather than working with a group, for I found that my concentration was higher, and I could have a deeper level of experience than I could with the influence of others upon my work. The day to day living of my Druid path is what is most important, punctuated by the celebration of the seasons and festivals with others.

Of course, we are never truly solitary creatures, but in this sense I am using the word “solitary” with regards to other humans.  I am never truly solitary, for I am always surrounded by nature and all its creatures every single second of my life.  I am always a part of an inter-connected web of existence. Living this connection, weaving the threads of my life to that of my environment and all that exists within it, means that there is no separation, no isolation. Yet, when asked to describe my path, I use the word solitary or Hedge Druid in the sense that I prefer to find such connection on my own, without other humans around. Why this should be so is perhaps due to my nature: naturally shy, and sensitive to noise, light, barometric pressure and other phenomena, it is just easier to be “alone” most of the time.

It is similar to the path of the mystic, or a monastic. The path of the mystic is much the same; a solitary path where personal connection to the divine is the central focus.  Some would say that the mystic path is the search for the nature of reality. For me, Druidry is the search for reality within nature, and so the two can walk hand in hand down this forest path. There are many elements of mysticism in my everyday life, where the songs of the land and the power of the gods flow through me, the knowledge from the ancestors deep within my blood and deep within the land upon which I live, rooted in its soil and sharing its stories on the breeze. To hold that connection, day in and day out, to live life fully within the threads of that tapestry is what I aspire to do, each and every moment.  Sometimes a thread is dropped, and it requires a deep mindfulness to restore it, but practice helps when we search for those connecting threads, becoming easier with time and patience both with the world and with your own self.

The monastic retreats from the world to connect with the essence of the divine, however you may describe it.   There is a deliberate intention to be separate from the so-called “mundane” world, or secular culture. However, within Druidry we realise that there is no such thing as mundane, and the duality between the physical and the spiritual is something that is anathema to the tradition. Learning how to be in the world is of great value, even as great value is found in being alone. For some, I’m sure a monastic Druid tradition would be a most agreeable way to live, but for most they prefer to work in the world rather than separate themselves from it, because they understand that separation is merely an illusion.  Most non-gregarious Druids would prefer the path of the mystic, rather than the monastic, for that very reason. The mystic seeks integration, the monastic separation.

Yet both have many other similarities. Both seek to release the vice-like grip we have on our sense of self, the ego that we try to protect at all costs. The dissolution of the ego can be seen as at the heart of many Eastern traditions. Druidry teaches us integration, our ego perhaps not dissolving but blending in with that of our own environment. We don’t think less of ourselves, but rather think of ourselves less. The animism that is a large part of Druidry for many helps us to see the sacredness of all existence, and in doing so we are not seeking annihilation, but integration. We can perhaps dissolve the notions and out-dated perceptions that we have, both about the world and about ourselves, leaving the self to find its own edges and then blending in to the world around us, truly becoming part of an ecosystem where selflessness is not altruistic, but necessary for the survival of the system.

The flowing inspiration (otherwise known as the awen) where soul touches soul and the edges melt away into an integrated way of being has always been at the heart of Druidry.  The three drops of inspiration or wisdom from the goddess Ceridwen’s cauldron contain that connection; they contain the awen that, with enough practice, is accessible to all. We have to spend time brewing our own cauldron of inspiration, filling it with both knowledge and experience before we can taste the delicious awen upon our lips. Some prefer to do this with others; some prefer to do so alone.

It is easier to quiet the noise of humanity, and of our own minds, when we are alone without distraction. Notice I said “easier” and not “easy”, because again it takes practice. But time spent alone, daily connecting and reweaving the threads that we have dropped can help us create a wonderful, rich tapestry that inspires us to continue in our journey through life, whatever may happen along the way. Though the solitary path might not be for everyone, having these moments of solitude can be a great tool for deep learning, working on your own as well as working within a group, Grove or Order. Sometimes we need to remove ourselves from the world in order to better understand it, and then come back into the fold with a new awareness and integration filled with awen, filled with inspiration.

The Hedge Druid is not afraid to be alone, nor with others, but seeks deep and utter integration in the world. Being a Hedge Druid requires determination, in seeking out the ancient and modern lore, and finding what aspects resonate within our soul. Not everything ancient is valid today, and not all modern aspects have integrity. We need to take a step back from declaring authenticity when there is doubt, and instead search for validity in our spiritual path. The Hedge Druid learns to walk her path with integrity, with solid research and experiential wisdom. She does the work, in the physical as well as the academic. Our learning is our own personal responsibility.

I hope that this blog post clears up some of the confusion of just what Hedge Druidry is, compared to other traditions within the Druidic diaspora. It is a deeply transformational way of being in the world, that appeals to those who wish to be connected to the land, the ancestors and the ancient Celtic heritage, while also at the same time work with the allies and guides of the Otherworld, or the three realms of land, sea and sky through hedge riding experiences. A Hedge Druid is deeply connected to the concept of the World Tree, the importance and significance of the bilé, to inform their world and how they work within it. And, as are all Druids, we are questing the awen: that sense of connection, of deeply integrated relationship with the land and with each other.

May we be the awen.