“The Chief Druid” from “Mona Antiqua Restaurata”, 1723 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Before we continue our discussion about druids, I want you to practice something I do everyday:
Shut off your monitor or turn your laptop away from you. Look outside and see what is happening through the window. If you don’t have a window to look out of, turn your eyes to your hands and gaze at the shining of your nails. Be present in this moment. Feel the world around you. Do you find yourself hunched over and perhaps frowning? If you are, correct your posture and take in three deep breaths and imagine every exhale extending through your limbs.
Congratulations. You just performed a practice common among druids. By putting yourself in the now and just feeling out the world around you, you created a connection between you and nature.
Now that we are in the present and relaxed, let’s take a deeper look into druidry. There is no real order to druid practice. No levels or end “goal” to reach. Being a druid is more about a state of being combined with conscious action to behave and think with a new mindset. As a druid, you focus on being aware of everything around you and maintaining that self-awareness. As you follow this path, self-awareness leads to habits and actions that become second nature to you. The path of the druid is personal responsibility, something that you will be constantly in charge of.
One thing that druids humbly accept is that you never learn a lesson once. As we grow, we circle back on things we’ve learned and make new connections or find new insights on the lesson. Much like there is no straight trail in a forest, druids often meander and trace their steps to somewhere they had already been to. Think of circles, spirals, curves and waves as the road you must take. If you think it would be more beneficial and effective to walk a straight road beyond all the twists and turns, then you would be missing the point entirely.
As made obvious by the introductory post, you can define druids in a million ways. However, druids define themselves by three simple traits:
Nature influences druids in all aspects of their life. They concern themselves with nature first and foremost. Nature also affects them on emotional and spiritual levels. They are often struck with awe and wonder when they consider nature. To a druid, nature is a book that they spend time reading to gain spiritual truth.
Druids always know where they are, they don’t get “lost”. For them, being in the present moment of things is where they belong. They’re not concerned with what’s next or what they can attain later on. As long as they are experiencing the moment in front of them, they are doing everything that they should be in life. Druids take the same pride in doing chores and working for a living as they do when they’re learning from nature. Druids exist in everyday life without desiring to reach some ethereal plane or higher existence. Their heads may be in the clouds, but they firmly root themselves and are down to earth.
Finally, druids hold the belief that everything is filled with the same energy that formed the natural world. To a druid, you can make a connection with all beings, not just other people. With the natural world, that connection has the ability to fill our lives with magic, provide sustenance or unflinchingly kill us. Druids make it their responsibility to cultivate these relationships and forge the respect nature deserves for a beneficial outcome.
It’s said among druids that you can engage nature by honoring your garden or dying in the mountains.