Post by Fool Coyote on Sept 16, 2008 21:55:14 GMT -5
"Yet trees are not 'trees' until so named, until so named and so seen - and never were so named, till those had been who's speech's involuted breath unfurled, a faint echo, and dim picture of the world"
- J.R.R. Tolkien
The first step in becoming a Druid, would be coming to understand one's self in relation to the Celtic cosmos, as well as one's own triads of being and non-being. It is for this reason, that before one claims, or earns the title of Druid, they must first earn many other titles along the way. This is what I have come to consider is the journey of the Druid. Firstly, one must earn the title of Celt. This in-and-of it's self is no easy task. It is through the study, and experience as well as living Celtic ways, spirituality, laws and virtues that we begin to get a small glimpse into the truth of a Druid.
Some simply claim Celtic ways by bloodlines alone. While this may (or may not) be a beginning for some being Celt by accident of birth isn't enough. The rights to such titles (Celt, Bard, Filidh, Vate, Drui etc.) fall to the very few who take the time to earn them. Anything less is like asking a convert to Catholicism to be a catholic priest...Not going to work is it?
However it is at this point, by living Celtic virtues and coming to understand the triads of the self, the three-fold Celtic cosmos and their relationships to the ever living Sidhe, immersing one's self in the music, poetry, and culture that one begins to discover Druid religion and the truth of their teachings. After the title of Celt has been earned, one is ready to move on to the next misted path.
"While I was held prisoner,
sweet inspiration filled me,
and the laws were imparted to me,
in a language without words."
-Taliesin (A Welsh Bard)
Now that one's path is lived, and religious philosophy discovered, the next path to the destination is unveiled..."BardCraft." The Bard or Filidh is far more than a simple poet. They were each highly respected by their various Celtic cultures. They were the historians, as well as the story tellers who were the only ones allowed to tell the two classes of poetry which both symbolically, and literally (a mixture of sorts) marked the paths of the ancestors.
We also in this time of poetic training learn the truthful wisdoms behind the Ogham, which are at the very root of a Druid's knowledge. They're symbolisms keep hidden within their great grove of meaning histories and spiritual meanings that one need only look to find.
Rigorous training is now undertaken by the newly minted Bard. This is where one discovers memorization techniques, memory compression through the Ogham, poetic skill, as well as other feats which make us inherently Draoi. It is during this building time that we learn the truth of the power of our words, and magics made by those words alone. Amergin the white knee recounts for us the power of an Irish Bard in the "Cauldron of Poesy".
"A fitting decision that ennobles one from one's center, that pours fourth a terrifying stream of speech from the mouth"
"The making of fearful poetry, vast mighty draughts of death spells in active voice, in passive silence, and the neutral balance between."
Amergin spoke of the turning of the three cauldrons of the self through both divine emotion and human emotion and is in essence the root of a good Bard.
"I have been a drop in a shower,
a sword in the hand,
a shield in battle,
a string in a harp,
Nine years of enchantment,
in water, in foam,
I have absorbed fire,
I have been a tree in a covert,
for there is nothing of which I have not been a part."
-Taliesin
"Vate" training is yet another river of many flows which must be crossed before one earns the right to become Draoi. It is during this time in training that we learn to see with out seeing, to hear with out hearing, to feel with out feeling. To change ones cosmos, and being....and shape ourselves into any we so desire. We also learn the fine arts or illuminations, like Imbas Forosnai (Knowledge that Illuminates), Tenm Laegda (illumination through drumming, chanting and sometimes by song), and Dichetal Do Chennaibh (making Incantations Using the Ends of the Fingers, or even the palms). We learn to drum, sing, dance, chant, etc. We learn the healing qualities of herbs, and trees, the healing arts, as well as other more hands on subjects, we learn to work with the Sidhe, as well as the other more elemental spirits which inhabit the islands to the west of Ireland.
I am Wind on Sea,
I am Ocean-wave,
I am Roar of Sea,
I am Bull of Seven Fights,
I am Vulture on Cliff,
I am Dewdrop,
I am Fairest of Flowers,
I am Boar for Boldness,
I am Salmon in Pool,
I am Lake on Plain...
I am Word of Skill,
I am the Point of a Weapon (that poureth forth combats),
I am God who fashioned Fire for a Head.
Who smootheth the ruggedness of a mountain?
Who is He who announceth the ages of the Moon?
And who, the place where falleth the sunset?
Who calleth the cattle from the House of Tethra?
On whom do the cattle of Tethra smile?
Who is the troop, who the god who fashioneth edges...?
Enchantments about a spear? Enchantments of Wind?
If not I?"
-Amergin
Behold, the new Druid has survived the creation of Ireland!
I don't believe that I should "call" myself a Druid, but that I simply "am" a Druid. As we have seen here, becomming a Druid is a long winding path nourished only by the knowledge of tradition. It is the discovery, experience, and the very Imbas of Draíocht. Being Draoi is maintained by a life of service and practice of Draíocht and service to one's people. As a teacher, a judge, adviser, philosopher, and a priest. For it is through these and other actions that a Druid finds Deity, and it is through Imbas that one Druid becomes connected to every other Druid.
A Druid ever seeks truths from beyond the darkness, black waters which know no depths, so dark that within it's depths the darkness cannot be seen for the darkness. Draíocht is the name of our path way and the mysteries there-in are the druid's truth. We dance the two-fold dance on one leg. We are the creators of worlds and the truth of sages. We look with sightless eyes, and sing the songs of creation.
Goodness is the god of everything for most of us, so it matters little by what names we call Deity, and love is the quality of godliness. Becoming Drui is about learning to unbind the mind through the three forms of Druidic wisdom, there is plenty of time to "become" for spirit and truth are eternal, as is the Druid's soul!
I know that there are many who would dispute my realities and understandings, still others will simply misunderstand them...However it is to those very few, who I address now. For I am glad you are there, I am given comfort by your presence in this great work that we have undertaken from beyond death's doorways, it is to you I say that you are the truth against the world!
I offer you Draíocht to serve the people!
Fool Coyote
- J.R.R. Tolkien
The first step in becoming a Druid, would be coming to understand one's self in relation to the Celtic cosmos, as well as one's own triads of being and non-being. It is for this reason, that before one claims, or earns the title of Druid, they must first earn many other titles along the way. This is what I have come to consider is the journey of the Druid. Firstly, one must earn the title of Celt. This in-and-of it's self is no easy task. It is through the study, and experience as well as living Celtic ways, spirituality, laws and virtues that we begin to get a small glimpse into the truth of a Druid.
Some simply claim Celtic ways by bloodlines alone. While this may (or may not) be a beginning for some being Celt by accident of birth isn't enough. The rights to such titles (Celt, Bard, Filidh, Vate, Drui etc.) fall to the very few who take the time to earn them. Anything less is like asking a convert to Catholicism to be a catholic priest...Not going to work is it?
However it is at this point, by living Celtic virtues and coming to understand the triads of the self, the three-fold Celtic cosmos and their relationships to the ever living Sidhe, immersing one's self in the music, poetry, and culture that one begins to discover Druid religion and the truth of their teachings. After the title of Celt has been earned, one is ready to move on to the next misted path.
"While I was held prisoner,
sweet inspiration filled me,
and the laws were imparted to me,
in a language without words."
-Taliesin (A Welsh Bard)
Now that one's path is lived, and religious philosophy discovered, the next path to the destination is unveiled..."BardCraft." The Bard or Filidh is far more than a simple poet. They were each highly respected by their various Celtic cultures. They were the historians, as well as the story tellers who were the only ones allowed to tell the two classes of poetry which both symbolically, and literally (a mixture of sorts) marked the paths of the ancestors.
We also in this time of poetic training learn the truthful wisdoms behind the Ogham, which are at the very root of a Druid's knowledge. They're symbolisms keep hidden within their great grove of meaning histories and spiritual meanings that one need only look to find.
Rigorous training is now undertaken by the newly minted Bard. This is where one discovers memorization techniques, memory compression through the Ogham, poetic skill, as well as other feats which make us inherently Draoi. It is during this building time that we learn the truth of the power of our words, and magics made by those words alone. Amergin the white knee recounts for us the power of an Irish Bard in the "Cauldron of Poesy".
"A fitting decision that ennobles one from one's center, that pours fourth a terrifying stream of speech from the mouth"
"The making of fearful poetry, vast mighty draughts of death spells in active voice, in passive silence, and the neutral balance between."
Amergin spoke of the turning of the three cauldrons of the self through both divine emotion and human emotion and is in essence the root of a good Bard.
"I have been a drop in a shower,
a sword in the hand,
a shield in battle,
a string in a harp,
Nine years of enchantment,
in water, in foam,
I have absorbed fire,
I have been a tree in a covert,
for there is nothing of which I have not been a part."
-Taliesin
"Vate" training is yet another river of many flows which must be crossed before one earns the right to become Draoi. It is during this time in training that we learn to see with out seeing, to hear with out hearing, to feel with out feeling. To change ones cosmos, and being....and shape ourselves into any we so desire. We also learn the fine arts or illuminations, like Imbas Forosnai (Knowledge that Illuminates), Tenm Laegda (illumination through drumming, chanting and sometimes by song), and Dichetal Do Chennaibh (making Incantations Using the Ends of the Fingers, or even the palms). We learn to drum, sing, dance, chant, etc. We learn the healing qualities of herbs, and trees, the healing arts, as well as other more hands on subjects, we learn to work with the Sidhe, as well as the other more elemental spirits which inhabit the islands to the west of Ireland.
I am Wind on Sea,
I am Ocean-wave,
I am Roar of Sea,
I am Bull of Seven Fights,
I am Vulture on Cliff,
I am Dewdrop,
I am Fairest of Flowers,
I am Boar for Boldness,
I am Salmon in Pool,
I am Lake on Plain...
I am Word of Skill,
I am the Point of a Weapon (that poureth forth combats),
I am God who fashioned Fire for a Head.
Who smootheth the ruggedness of a mountain?
Who is He who announceth the ages of the Moon?
And who, the place where falleth the sunset?
Who calleth the cattle from the House of Tethra?
On whom do the cattle of Tethra smile?
Who is the troop, who the god who fashioneth edges...?
Enchantments about a spear? Enchantments of Wind?
If not I?"
-Amergin
Behold, the new Druid has survived the creation of Ireland!
I don't believe that I should "call" myself a Druid, but that I simply "am" a Druid. As we have seen here, becomming a Druid is a long winding path nourished only by the knowledge of tradition. It is the discovery, experience, and the very Imbas of Draíocht. Being Draoi is maintained by a life of service and practice of Draíocht and service to one's people. As a teacher, a judge, adviser, philosopher, and a priest. For it is through these and other actions that a Druid finds Deity, and it is through Imbas that one Druid becomes connected to every other Druid.
A Druid ever seeks truths from beyond the darkness, black waters which know no depths, so dark that within it's depths the darkness cannot be seen for the darkness. Draíocht is the name of our path way and the mysteries there-in are the druid's truth. We dance the two-fold dance on one leg. We are the creators of worlds and the truth of sages. We look with sightless eyes, and sing the songs of creation.
Goodness is the god of everything for most of us, so it matters little by what names we call Deity, and love is the quality of godliness. Becoming Drui is about learning to unbind the mind through the three forms of Druidic wisdom, there is plenty of time to "become" for spirit and truth are eternal, as is the Druid's soul!
I know that there are many who would dispute my realities and understandings, still others will simply misunderstand them...However it is to those very few, who I address now. For I am glad you are there, I am given comfort by your presence in this great work that we have undertaken from beyond death's doorways, it is to you I say that you are the truth against the world!
I offer you Draíocht to serve the people!
Fool Coyote