At various times in our lives we find ourselves looking to find our tribe, and I can relate to this. Over the years as my interests have wandered as too has my desire to find like-minded individuals and practices to accompany me on my journey. And here I am again. I find myself in this beautiful nature-filled environment and as I navigate my transition to belong here I turn to seek what…. aname for these experiences, these feelings, a place where I fit in terms of my “self” – my views, and values. As humans we’re not designed to be solitary creatures, even the introverts. It’s possible to enjoy being alone in nature and also feel the pull of connecting with others who have similar interests.
When I have visited Glastonbury I have felt an amazing energy from just being around the people there. I certainly don’t connect with all of them but enough to give me a really joyous feeling of recognising some of my tribe.
As I’ve said in previous blog posts, this journey is an exploration, a discovery. I’ve looked at some of the Pagan beliefs and practices and some felt aligning but others not. Deities for one are a struggle for me, even the concept of worship just doesn’t feel like home at all for me. I do believe in energy – and therefore of “spirit” where it pertains to be an energetic force. I believe that we can influence by using our energy or spirit and through my researching and discoveries I think I am certainly leaning toward Animism – that we are one with nature and the spirit of nature, the energies of nature.
And then along the way I discovered Druidry. Of course I’ve known of the Druids, seen reference to them instories and films, but never really looked into Druidry in any detail. As I did some things really struck me. The importance of groves for one….and I had been very drawn to the grove at the end of the garden before any knowledge of this. And I had felt compelled to create the circle in the grove…and there in Druidry are the references to circles. The importance of trees, which I had felt from the moment we arrived here. The lack of dogma – the choise to worship or pay tribute to deities, or nature, or to be animist. I was feeling some afinity.
I came across several organisations in researching further into Druidry and the one that really resonated with me was the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD). Their chosen leader for many years was a guy called Phillip Carr-Gomm. I was watching him live stream his “Tea with a Druid” on Facebook one day and I commented that something he said reminded me of Assagioli’s egg – and to my surprise he knew what it was…..I usually get blank looks or question marks whenever I mention Assagioli’s egg – so I looked more into who he was and the OBOD and there discovered his profession as a transpersonal therapist (Psychosynthesis), which again….felt a welcome and common understanding (We touched briefly on the transpersonal models when I was studying during my own integrative counselling training). His influence is clear in the teachings and paradigms of OBOD, despite him now having passed the mantel of chosen leader of OBOD to someone new.
There seemed to be some sychronicity happeneing for me with Druidry for sure.
I looked around more and read more and eventually decided to join the OBOD. And so my journey of discovery has taken me to a path of Druidry it seems (which also works very well alongside Green Witchery). I join at the Bardic Grade, which delves into our creative side….something I am very familiar with. There is extensive training and research material available as a member of OBOD, which I’ve started taking a look at but won’t be talking about in any detail on this blog as much of it is sacred to the druids – if you’re interested….I recommend joining. I will talk about my personal experiences along the way though so…let’s see what is along this path.