Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Two Powers

The Two Powers meditation is intended to ground and center the druid in the energies of earth and sky. It is meant to cause a harmonious influx and return of primal earth and sky power through the three energetic cauldrons of wisdom, love and power. The intention is to form an ever increasing connection to the earth, its primal and nourishing current of life-sustaining power and to the sky, with its illuminating, awakening power of light. It is useful to use this attunement technique before magic or ritual to get into the proper mindset for the working. The two powers are based in some of Indo-European lore's core concepts, for example the sacred fire and water, and as such the technique is a way to find affinity with the ancestors. It is a way to open the mind and heart to receive the gods and commune with the nature spirits.

In my experience, the two powers meditation has taken me away from the mundane world and returned me to an enchanted existence of dwelling in a sacred reality. As I become the world tree, I feel myself at the centre of the cosmos. It reminds me that the cosmos, as huge as it may be, is something I am intimately connected to. When I feel myself firmly rooted in the ground I feel a timelessness, like I am connected to something unfathomably ancient. When I feel myself connecting to the star, I feel a weightlessness as though I could grow on forever reaching to the heavens. Together, these feelings take me away from my body and into a trance state of soothing calmness. As I sink my roots deeper and raise my branches higher, I focus on the three cauldrons and open myself to any wisdom, love, strength and inspiration that I can collect from the waters below and heavens above. Sometimes I see crows settle in my branches, or imagine my roots pushing through the minerals of a beautiful crystal cavern and I am in awe of the mysteries of the beauty of nature. When I feel the waters flowing up my roots and through me, washing over my head and returning to the earth I feel refreshed and cleansed. When I feel the starlight shining down into me and through me like a lantern I feel energized. Together these feelings connect me to the chaos of potential and transformative power. I have found it particularly difficult to ground and centre on, for example, the subway on the way to work, but have found it profoundly meaningful to cozy up to a tree in the forest and do the two powers meditation in a natural setting.

Works Cited

Corrigan, Ian, Ed. The Ar n'Draiocht Fein Dedicant Program. 2005.

Mother Grove ADF, The. The ADF Membership Guide. 5th Ed. 2006.

The Three Kindred

There are three categories of entities in the ADF cosmology based on the Indo-European lore. They are the Shining Ones or gods; the Mighty Ones or ancestors and the Noble Ones or nature spirits. The gods are the greatest of all, the ancestors are humans who have gone before us and the nature spirits are our connection to the land and otherworld.

The Shining Ones or gods are an interwoven group of great and wise spiritual beings who form the fabric of cosmos and sustain the worlds. They are our strongest allies, they guide and protect us and deserve our worship. Most pantheons form a family, each deity with their own specific function and domain. They are independent free agents with mighty magic rather than aspects of greater archetypes. We make offerings to the gods because we believe they interfere with our lives, for better or for worse. We want to thank them and propitiate them so that we achieve the maximum good from our interactions with the gods. This reciprocal relationship is one of respect and reverence. The gods are associated with fire, the bright gate in ADF. Its flickering light can alter consciousness and its flames can burn up offerings and other tokens, both allowing us to communicate with the gods. It is my personal belief that the gods work in us and through us. I have been touched by the power of several gods from different pantheons. My matron deities are Hestia of the hearth and Ma'at of the scales. I have learned a chant to Hestia which I sometimes sing as I cook. I have held a ritual involving the negative confessions of Ma'at. I have worked with Ra, god of the sun and learned the sun salutations of the pharaoh. I have danced and drank with Dionysus of wine and revelry. My work with deities has been Greco-Egyptian in flavour, and I will continue my work with these gods on an individual basis. However, I think that to come to understand the gods further, adopting a single pantheon and familiarizing myself with the mythology and culture is key. To this end I am beginning to work with the Celtic gods, of whom I have had little exposure. I have been to rituals where Brigid, lady of poetry, smithcraft and healing is called, and I have become fond of her. I have heard stories of the Dagda, of the Calleach, and Cu Chullain. These stories open me up to a receptive mode where I am more aware of the possibilities that a relationship to these divine personalities can hold. When I am aware of the symbols and associations that the gods have, I am more able to see them at play in the world around me.

The Mighty Ones or ancestors are any of a number of humans in the realm of the dead. They are our family members and beloved friends who have passed on, our teachers and leaders, and those on the path of Paganism who have gone on before us. They are the wise and talented of the past, our folk heroes and celebrities, our war heroes and national forebears such as presidents and queens. As pagans we believe both in reincarnation and continued existence in a realm of the dead where spirits rest and become refreshed. As such, our relationship to the ancestors is one of seeking wisdom and advice and giving offerings to sustain them and appease them. The ancestors are associated with the deep gate in ADF, which is the well with its properties of memory and inspiration. Keeping out photos of loved ones who have passed on and sharing their stories are ways I stay connected to the ancestors. I sometimes recognize them briefly in the faces of strangers, or meet them in dreams where they may or may not look like themselves. I have set up an ancestor shrine in the past, decorating it with flowers, photos and objects of remembrance.

The Noble Ones or nature spirits are beings of many different kinds. They are magical, crafty and cunning. There are animal spirits, many of whom are domesticated allies and others who we consider wild. There are plant spirits and weather spirits or natural phenomena. Some are mortals, other are never-born. There are magic races from many lands who walk between the worlds. We honor them and occasionally ask them for help with our magic. Some of these allies are important to our spiritual development, such as spirit guides and totem animals, others are not as interested in us as we are in them and would rather be left alone. It is necessary to develop an understanding with those beings who are paying attention to you, a sort of reciprocation to show respect and foster positive interactions. Many of these spirits existed long before us, and will continue long after we are gone. As we dabble in the otherworld, it is important to have allies to help keep us safe and oriented. It is essential to give thanks and praise to these spirits, to let them know that they are honoured and that our gratitude for their involvement in our lives is sincere. There are also outdwellers, quite the opposite of allies, who would do us harm, cause chaos, play tricks on us, disrupt our rites and meditations and so on. It is important to appease these beings with offerings to show that we would respectfully like to keep our distance. Finally, there are also the allies who nourish us physically, our food. We must always be mindful that the plants and animals we consume have had lives of their own, and have given these lives for our sustenance. Although we do not have traditions such as Kosher or Halal in Paganism, where prayers are said over animals as they are slaughtered and butchered, I would hope that when hunting or culling a herd, modern pagans take the time to thank the animal spirits for their sacrifice.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Nine Virtues

The Nine Virtues of ADF: wisdom, piety, vision, courage, integrity, perseverance, hospitality, moderation and fertility.

WISDOM:

To be wise one must have information and experience, for example about an undertaking or decision. It is not enough to have knowledge or an opinion, to be wise one must apply consideration before moving forward. A wise person looks at a situation through various lenses and integrates the perspectives to find clarity. Wisdom can be the ability to say what needs to be said in a given situation be it a story, a judgement or simply to admit that one has nothing helpful to contribute. Wisdom can come from having years of life experience and seeing the ways in which others deal with their affairs. Wisdom can come from taking advice from others and experiencing the outcome. Wisdom can also come from teaching or leading, because the teacher or leader must first be the pupil and as the wheel turns, little eggs of wisdom begin to hatch like fortune cookies, those old expressions return with a powerful punch as you live them and learn to pass the stories on.

PIETY:

To be pious one must be mindful and respectful of the actions and words one is using; to honour the Gods and Spirits as one encounters a sacred skill or tool or a natural or holy man made feature. It is to re-frame the mundane in a spiritual context whenever possible and to be thankful and impressed by the divine. Piety involves following a number of rules found in mythology, history and alluded to by the domains of the gods themselves. Piety is not just remembering to light a candle once a day and recite a piece of poetry. Piety is about yearning, it is about surrendering the love and devotion you have to your pantheon or patron and feeling it come back to you. It is about the experience of communion with something greater that includes you. It is about feeling your spirituality at work, and giving credit to the gods when synchronicity and magic bubble up into your life. It is also about celebrating the awesomeness that the gods represent and embody.

VISION:

To have vision is to be goal-oriented in the long term and passionate about detail in the present. It is to view the state of things through a lens and to recognize that lens as a tool not an absolute truth. The visionary can shift focus from an atomic perspective through a cosmic perspective and has a fair knowledge of the path that lies ahead. Vision is a quality that makes leaders excellent at bringing people together to share a lens or to appreciate where other individuals come from. It is acknowledging and appreciating the fact that every person has an individual consciousness and that when barriers such as discrimination and anxiety are pulled away, a group can share more deeply in each others lives. Vision can also be a creative outlet when artistic vision is inspired, either through found art objects or the more formal media such as literature, music and painting. Many artists choose mythological themes and deities for their work. These pieces hold viewers in awe and pass a new sense of vision onto them.

COURAGE:

Courage is to have enough strength of heart to confront unnecessary adversity. It is to move forward on one's path despite intimidating roadblocks and to clear the way for others. Courage is following through on commitments even when they hold unexpected twists. The courageous person stands up for the truth and a set of beliefs or standards held by the community or the individual. Spiritual courage is about finding your inner truth and accepting challenges to it so that you will always grow strong in spirit, even as things change. It takes courage to research your hearth culture and shift your current faith paradigm and to admit that you were mistaken or uninformed. It takes courage to join a grove of people you don't know and to participate wholeheartedly in the midst of strangers. Even in a time where all is good, courage is being prepared and keeping watch for challenges on the next leg of the spiritual journey.

INTEGRITY:

To have integrity is to behave in a genuine manner. Integrity is an ongoing demonstration that people can count on you on all levels of your being. It often means keeping your word and not making promises you won't keep. Integrity involves a display of respect in one's interactions with others; it can involve active listening, keeping matters confidential where appropriate or regularly arriving early to ceremonies and events. Integrity is not a value that one can limit to spiritual matters, specifically it is a constant demonstration of the whole interwoven package of values. A person with integrity is generally confident and well regarded, they set a good example for others without getting an overblown ego. People of integrity are often trusted by the individuals they interact with and their actions are not often questioned. Integrity can mean making occasional personal sacrifices or being nominated for leadership roles for a group or community. In instances of conflict, integrity helps people 'keep it together', to react in a cool and clear-headed way so that they can be fair and honest.

PERSEVERANCE:

Perseverance in a spiritual context begins with the motivation toward the cultivation of a personal spirituality and it has no final objective nor destination. The journey toward spiritual goals of self-knowledge, hearth culture and personal relationships with the gods and spirits is not an easy one for the individual and it seems to become more challenging to integrate the needs and desires of a grove of people. Perseverance is an optimistic struggle through the difficulties that arise. Roadblocks such as finishing that boring book, scheduling ritual, and finding time to meditate at home are unavoidable. To persevere is to be serious about the objective and to work alongside others who are having similar difficulties. Perseverance can be a small, quick, late night hearth ritual at the end of an exhausting day, it can be politely listening to Grandma's disapproval of your beliefs, or it can be a month of planning and memorization before an important rite. It is facing the spiritual path with a proper attitude of accepting and expecting the challenges and belief in the rewards of, for example, a personal spiritual experience or a particularly moving grove ritual. Showing perseverance in all one does is also a demonstration of courage and integrity.

HOSPITALITY:

Humans are social creatures and hospitality is essential to getting along well. Hospitality involves receiving guests in a friendly and open way. In the ancient sense, such as in Homer's Odyssey, hospitality sometimes meant offering a stranger a bath, a meal and a rest before asking who they are and where they're coming from and going to. This is also where we get the tradition of a gift for a gift, even if one of the gifts is storytelling. Today, hospitality can mean making a pot of tea for a friend or making space for people to sleep after a late party. In many pagan circles the people travel, hospitality is organizing a ride share or having a meeting space open in advance of the event. Many people have shifted away from phone calls in favour of the Web, yet I think getting to know each other outside of ritual and feast space is important to generate a tightly woven circle. For me, sending out and accepting social calls to and from grove members and being a well-behaved guest is essential. Attending public functions like moots, lectures, workshops, pagan pride days and festivals is also a chance to share humour, benevolence and genuine interpersonal communication.

MODERATION:

Moderation is being able to enjoy life's pleasures to a healthy, stable degree. To have moderation, one must take action for the pleasure or necessity of the experience, for example drink to quench thirst, not drink to get drunk or remain thirsty and eat to satisfaction rather than eat and be hungry or full. A moderate person would dress, decorate their home, joke around, get exercise and in all things with an Aristotelian golden mean in mind. By that I mean, there is an appropriate level to be reached of anything one does, and when the context shifts, so does the mean. Being humorous and lively at a large family meal is great, unless it is a solemn funeral feast. Moderation is also a form of self-control. If one is gaining or losing weight, moderation can counterbalance that. Moderation applies to both mental and physical health and well-being. It is also about timing. Knowing when to talk and when to listen, when to spend and when to save, when to rush and when to take your time. In the spiritual sense, we need to make time for cultivating ourselves and it is not always easy to get the right amount of meditation and hearth work every day. Living a moderate way in all regards helps with each aspect of the day and one's lifetime.

FERTILITY:

Fertility is the ability of something or someone to be creative. Fertility can apply to farms, vegetables and grains. It can mean animal and human reproduction. Fertility for me often means a capacity for producing artwork and tending to houseplants. The more creative power in something, the more fertile it is. Fertility is important to me because I believe in biodiversity and I honour the organisms and ecosystems that surround us and permeate us. Fertility can be about sustainability because the way some crops are grown leaves the ground leeched of nutrients and therefore infertile. Fertility also impacts the way humans interact, the healthier we are the more attractive we are to one another, and this allows us to accomplish more creative activity together, whether it is work, play, art or sexuality and parenting. To be fertile, one must try to reciprocate the gifts we have been given in this life, making transformations with anything or anyone we interact with.

ADF Dedicant Program

Hey there,

I'm plugging away at my Dedicant Program for ADF. Here's what I've come up with so far!

ADF members can find the D.P. requirements here.