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" One touch of nature

makes all the world kin "

William Shakespeare

Why Follow Druidry?

November 27th, 2017

I gave a talk live on Facebook this evening:
 

29 Responses to “Why Follow Druidry?”

  1. Thank you Philip! What a great talk. I am in West Devon and in the process of writing a book about pilgrimage. Resonant on so many levels. I hope you don’t mind if I share this?

  2. A huge Thank you to Philip, loved the talk. As a newbie to Druidry and a previous searcher of enlightenment through Buddhism who struggled for many years trying to juggle the expectations (that I had for myself), I really appreciated how Philip pointed out that wisdom is more easily attainable in this life and that it encourages us to live and enjoy our present life here on earth. As he so rightly pointed out, it is easy to fall into the ‘provisional living” trap and miss out on so much.
    It would be great to hear more! (Although it would be great to know there was a live talk prior to it happening so I could enjoy the community aspect of it too rather than the next day through the email link. Not sure where it was mentioned?)

    • Hi Cola! So glad you enjoyed it. It was on the OBOD Facebook page and I did put up an event notice about it there in advance. Monday evenings seem to be a good time, so I’m going to try to make it a weekly event at 8pm over there: https://www.facebook.com/druidry

  3. Enjoyed your talk Philip, you exude a timeless tranquility! Yes, I’m certain the world could always do with more wisdom, creativity and love…

  4. Ahhh, always enjoy listening to you, CC. So peaceful and thoughtful. Nothing to add today, just want to tell you I am really loving your videos! xxx

  5. Thank you Philip, a very thought provoking and inspiring talk. I have spent so many years ‘waiting’, thinking one day I will find this, that or the other, one day I will understand and then I can really start to live. Since starting my Bardic journey however I have begun to really understand the meaning of living in the present, that I don’t need to wait, that life is happening now and it’s time for me to embrace that. I’m not on Facebook, never been a fan of it, but I may have to go on now so I can share in the live aspect of the talks rather than watching them on my own the next day!

    • Great! I think the ‘big’ religions – The Abrahamic ones and the Eastern Dharmic ones, have encouraged us to see life as ‘a bridge – cross over it, but do not make a house on it’ as St./ Paul (or someone) said. This other way of looking at it is radically different: it says “No! It’s not a bridge. It’s forests, and streams, and mountains. You’re here for a reason!”

  6. Hi Philip,
    Thank you for another wonderful sharing of some of the main foundations of Druid Spirituality.
    Greetings from Australia!

  7. As a young man of 73 who has been interested in Buddhism for many years and has had a career in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , I identified with your ideas about Enlightenment and Wisdom. I have been a Bard in the Druid Tradition now for about a year have come to see how wise your words are in my own life. Druidry has been a joy and source of understanding not matched by any previous experience. It is not talking about the here and now but actually living the here and now in a loving community grounded in Nature and the local landscape. Blessings and Many Awens. Gillbride, a Bard of the Sylvan Grove

      • Thank you, Philip, to linking me to your paper Special Times. Yes I read Dibs and loved it back in the day, and it is a classic in putting the Child first and giving love and attention without analyis in a structured setting. Many times have I assessed a child on this basis, often helped by art materials or, in younger children, a sand tray. Sometimes, working with teenagers on a more conversational level I woud feel stuck, and wonder why they came back week after week, spending their time non-communicatively. However many told me later that this was a special time, although nothing seemed to happen, and that no one before in their family or at school had ever listened to them. The experience of just having time for themselves in this way was often enough to enabe them to gain in confidence and self respect and feel better about their lives. I have also found whole families and groups respond well to a non analytical method when the therpists use Circular Questioning and other techniques of a systemic nature. Many issues have, in my experience, been resolved by asking one question: Whose idea was it that you came today? And supplementaries based on who agrees most or least with coming, So thanks for sharing your insighrts, so relevant to the Druid way of seeing life. I think I came to Druidry first through a short Jungian Training Analysis, back in the 70s, curtailed when my Analyst, Dr Lotte Rosenberg, died suddenly, and later by pursueng an interst in Eastern Philosophies and the novels and poetry of Herman Hesse, who himself had an analysis with Carl Jung. Did you ever read his Nobel Prize winning book “Magister Ludi – The Glass Bead Game”? As well as being a Trustee of the Fair Ways Foundation, now a Charity, http://www.fairways.co I als supervise the work of Jeff Walker at the Corn Loft, down the road from here – an Artist who works with Children and Families http://www.cornloft.org.uk

        • Hello! You mention how that one question provided a key that initiated a process with individuals or groups, and I think that’s one of the things that fascinated me with the process of therapy – and its links with spirituality and indeed science: the power of the quest, the question… And I suppose our society and education is so geared to results and the ability to quickly form opinions and make decisions, whereas a question opens things up rather than closes things down. When I first discovered the power of ‘If’ in training, I found this fascinating too…and do you know the ‘miracle question’ in SFBT? It really does seem to work often! I’ve read a lot of Hesse but never Magister Ludi – It’s been on my list to read for years! Nice to see the projects you’re connected with! All the best, Philip

          • Yes, interesting questions about change, especially to one person in the presence of another can reframe a siuation from stuck to solutions in a radical way. I spent a little while in Milwaukee observing the work of Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg back in the 80s, and have found Brief Psychotherapy theory and techniques useful in my own work, especially Family and G
            roup focussed. Engaging questions are more effective in stuck systems than dictating prescriptions!

  8. Thank you so much Philip for reaching out to us in this way! What a marvelous way to stimulate our sense of community. Having listened to your talk at the ECG17 on DruidCast and then this discussion on Facebook, I am so thankful to be drawn back to the basics of what the Druid path can be. I am equally thankful to understand that you & the OBOD organization actually want hear our ideas about the direction Druidry is taking and about how we are applying druidic principals in our individual lives and cultures. .Peace, Love & Joy to You, Stephanie, and the OBOD Team.
    Ruth, Decatur Georgia USA

    • Glad you enjoyed the talks, and what is great about this new technology is that it can be a conversation – it doesn’t have to be a one way street! 😀

  9. Philip, that was an excellent talk and I found it incredibly useful. I’ve been reading about Druidry for about 5 years now and feel that it is ‘path’ that really resonates with me. I’ve never been able to believe or follow the big religions as they always seem far too strict on what you should/shouldn’t do.

    I’ve always felt incredibly close to nature and, having been a keen mountain biker for many years, being able to do my cycling whilst being surrounded by nature is simply amazing. Being able to follow a path in a way that feel’s right for me, at the pace that I want to without somebody saying ‘no no no, that’s not correct, you need to do it this way’ is fantastic.

    Here’s to more of your great talks 🙂

    Cheers,

    Stu..

  10. Philip, Thank you so much for sharing this with the world. My experience is that there are many different and preconcieved notions by the general public regarding what Druidry is and how it compares with other spiritual paths Your video very nicely clarified Druidry’s uniting and unique framework. I so enjoyed your discussion contrasting the way of living provisionally with how wisdom can be gained by living in the here and now. The empowering celebration of creativity clearly sets Druidry apart from many other paths. So glad, too, that you clarified how creativity goes far beyond the limits of what many consider the traditional arts.

    I so look forward to joining your weekly “Tea with Philip” FB chats as a way to enhance connections to the worldwide Druid Community. I’d enjoy learning more about Druidry’s goals for the greater world in which we all live, if that’s a subject you might like to chat about over tea sometime.

    With Heartfelt Gratitude.

    • Hello Brenda,
      So glad you enjoyed the talk. And there’s so much to talk about! I have to try to stop myself going on for hours – so it’s a good discipline for me to keep a focus of about three key ideas and keep to a time limit. Your idea for a future topic is great! See you in the cafe!

  11. Also, this:

    “The quest is not for a heroic, superman status—the enlightened, all-wise Druid—but for a full humanity, with all its warmth, uniqueness, and fallibility. …The quest is…not about perfection; it’s about wholeness.” —Philip Carr-Gomm, DruidCast 82

    I’ve often thought about that over the past couple of years, and it feels deeply right to me. I’ve often reflected, too, upon the presentation/essay that you put together ten years ago, “Druids with Attitude.” I’ve always liked the lively tension that’s embedded in the metaphors that you employed in that piece, which encompasses both the quality of “becoming an anchor of light” and also the quality of “rocking the boat.”

    To be able to stand securely in one’s place, while simultaneously possessing the skill and courage to appropriately shift one’s weight when the greater good calls for that—that is one expression of wisdom, perhaps. It’s a form of wisdom that I hope I have been growing in, through my various successes and failures (with failure being one of the best of all teachers).

  12. it’s lovely to find this recording. looking forward to a time that I can take in a live talk (time to find my notification settings and adjust them).

  13. Yes, do this again please. I enjoyed listening to your bits of wisdom. I do try and enjoy whatever I am doing, though often it’s not easy.

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