Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Enchantment, testing and testes



When I first started in Druidry one of the sort of hokey romantic things that caught my attention was "reenchanting the world." It just all sounded a little too melodramatic for my tastes. Like I would need to invest in a collection of whispy dresses with long flowing sleeves... I have now come to understand a little of that concept.

The picture above is a mudcrack or mud peel. If it is allowed to dry long enough all of the water will evaporate and when the wind comes by this soil will move where ever the wind takes it. For a more dramatic example of this, just look at the dust bowl of the late 30s. Soil is alive at a microscopic level if dried too far it and the microbes that compose it die.

The key here is that water in all of its subtle and not so subtle forms is how magick is transmuted. The dry arid climate of the valley makes this place hard to work in. My job as a druid is to water the grove (and the rest of my sphere) and by extension make this place just a little bit easier to work in.

Part of the Work is to light candles and see who shows up. There are huge ego tests along the way. One of the subtle ones that no one tells you is that many people will be drawn to the light of the Work. It is not, I repeat it is not you. Luckily I did this to my first mentor (literally I almost REMOVED a scarab he was wearing) and so having seen this from the other side, I hope I understand this one :) I can completely see all sorts of potential explosive ugliness spring up out of that one.

The other part of the tests I think are just plain distractions. By allowing ourselves to use all of our energies on something trivial - like online arguements. I am always amazed at how many "magickains"- druids included yell at each other online and leave behind a printed trail. Obviously they were not paying attention to the magickal parts...

So my current test is to make sure that I am well prepared for a serious magickal discussion I plan to have this weekend. It is important to me that I have all of my facts straight and that I let the Hamster do the talking. The Hamster is very wise and I tend to get in my own way :)

Well of to study :)

3 comments:

Susanne Iles said...

Do you belong to a Druidic order, or do you follow your own path? I'm just curious, you don't have to answer publicly if you don't want to.

Soror Gimel said...

Hi Susanne,

I am an AODA flavor of Druid. Anything with ancient and America has my sort of sense of humor. It is much more of a every place is Holy and hence be true to that which you are. Don't get me wrong I think that the ancient Celts were very interesting folks, we just don't really know much about their Druids. What I do have is a fundamental commitment to the sacredness of the natural world. All parts of the natural world, even the gooey and slimey ones :)

Thanks for asking :)

Unknown said...

For me, I do it because I'm a selfish utilitarian that focuses on hedonism. It means I have no shame when it comes to doing what I want and it's just less of a headache and things happen faster, if I make sure more often things that are conducive to me appear around me. Being a professional at work, making sure I obey laws, like traffic (most of the time), working the garden. Doing my part to up the environment makes my practice much better, as I let the magick laws play out.