Jennifer’s Comments (group member since Aug 28, 2012)

Jennifer’s comments from the Druid Study / Reading Group group.

No comment from Bill I see.

I'm sorry I've kind of fallen off the wagon here. My parents both passed away this week; my Dad on the 24th, and my Mom on the 25th. It has been a rough month and although my sister is executor and is carrying the primary weight of wrapping up their affairs, my brother and I will be assisting her into the new year as necessary. Please don't wait up for me; Kevin and Gregory and Bill, go on and finish the book without me.

I did manage to finish my Ovate review and projects and have mailed the package to my OBOD tutor, but with the holidays, I am sure that she has not had a chance to look at anything. Hopefully I will be hearing from her soon and can begin preparing for the preparatory phase that will prepare me for the druid grade. They want to make sure you are REALLY ready. LOL

LOLOLOL

How about you, Bill?

Such a worthy student! :-D I also suppose we should let Goodreads know where they are lacking. I'll try to remember to send in a comment/complaint/suggestion after I get done with my appointments this morning. (That's expecting a lot...LOL)

Email might be a good alternative until they get the bugs worked out of the system. I did get notice of your comment too however. Email notices aren't going to get the book read for me though.

Can't expect too much from me this week...for the obvious reasons...if I recover from Thursday without too much damage maybe I can get my engine started again. I don't do Black Friday so no issue there. LOL

GG

Let's see what the others say...if they chime in. Odd...I got the email notice about your comment Bill. Seems they aren't consistently reliable...I'll have to make sure to check in regularly to see if there's any updates.

GG

Hey Kevin! I guess there isn't a problem in taking as long as necessary to discuss the book. LOL I've been depending on the email notiifications to alert me to new messages, and clearly that isn't happening, since I finally decided to check in to see what was happening and if I had missed the boat altogether.

Has anyone continued reading in the great chasm of silence and inactivity that has occurred here? I have been a bit overwhelmed with migraines due to weather change, sewing jobs (a blessing and a curse...long story) and trying to get my Ovate project finished so I can send it in to my tutor at long last. It is finally finished! YAY! Now for the Ovate gift. *sigh* They don't make it easy at this point to move forward. LOL

If anyone is still out there, let me know how far behind I am, and if there is any point in picking up where I left off...or are we going to abandon this book altogether?

Perhaps the group would rather take on something more challenging? (Just an observation...I have enough challenges of my own with NO book, it seems!) Tarw Llwyd & I finally finished the Cosmic Weather Report at our weekly meets, and have gone back to try to finish Yogananda with various interruptions as they occur. There is always unfinished business, it seems...

GG
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I'm glad I'm not the only one that's lagging, Greg! My allergies have been so bad the past week that my eyes have been nearly swollen shut on numerous occaions, and it's been nearly impossible to read. Just can't focus for long. Not to mention sneezing all over the book, which is totally disgusting. Today seems to be better...here's to hoping it's not just the eye of the storm!

Kevin, I didn't think you were being disparaging at all when you said the book was Druidry 101. I think that's exactly what it is...I was a little disappointed when I first realized that, but I'm hoping that between us (and Tarw Llwyd, whom I have added to the discussion) we can glean from the book something that will be of value. There are always some little golden nuggets in there!

Tarw (my druid partner in crime) is in Portland right now but will be returning home tomorrow night. He doesn't have the book and probably won't be taking the time to read it, but he said he would like to be part of the group, if for no other reason, than to see what everybody is saying about it. I know he will have his two shillings' worth to put in at some point...he won't be able to help himself. LOL

Bendithion disglair arnoch chi!

GG
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Ok...Let me see if I can think clearly enough while under the influence of several different antihistimines to address some of Kevin's questions about the last part of Chapter One. Then I can move on, which is probably what everyone else has already done by now!

I think when Philip talks about an "alternative" spirituality, he is talking about one that is not one of the major established religions of the world, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. I could be wrong, but that is how I have always understood it. As for linking the growth of alternative spirituality with environmentalism and/or the social changes in the 60's & 70's...I think that that is up to an individual's perception; Philip certainly doesn't say anything in the book that would lead me to believe that he is trying to make this connection.

However, Druidry, by its nature, would seem to encourage environmentalism, because, put simply, what one loves, one takes care of. When, through a nature-based spirituality, you learn to love deeply nature and the earth, you are naturally going to be concerned over the abuses beind done to it and are going to become more environmentally conscious.

Unfortunately, I think the "awakening" that occurred in the 60's and 70's was short-lived and temporary. People went back to sleep, for the most part. There is a re-awakening occuring now, to my way of seeing, that conventional religions cannot abide, because it breaks the chains of social control that religion has placed upon mankind for thousands of years. The awakening that is happening now is one in which people are outgrowing the old established religions and therefore there is a need to break free from their restrictive dogmas to rethink the new age that is being born, with all its possibilities. I think that this has caused the perception of the old religions, once held to be uplifting, to now be seen as restrictive and suffocating. At least that is my own personal opinion. You'd have to ask someone else not so close to the subject to get a different opinion. :)

I'm curious about what you think Philip "assumes" in the first chapter (as you said above). Judging by the Table of Contents, this is going to be a very basic book...Druidry 101...I look forward to all - Kevin's and Greg's and Bill's input -- since I have been immersed in OBOD for a number of years and these things may just slip by me as taken for granted. New eyes are always welcome. :)

GG
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Hi Greg, and Welcome! Or as we say in Welsh, Croeso! I haven't meant to ignore you but it seems to me that the last time I checked here, your introduction and comments weren't showing up for me. There is something rotten in the state of Goodreads, methinks. Bill, Kevin -- did this happen to you too? Greg's intro from 10/4 only showed up today for me -- I am certain it wasn't here the last time I looked! Or am I just really getting that old? I have 7 years on at least 2 of you, and chronic migraines complete with brain lesions so you never know when I'm going to lose something. The good news is, sometimes I will get it back down the road. lol

Greg, your observations on the first chapter were very intense. If you remain that engaged with the entire book, I shall surely be amazed.

The fact that Philip said nothing about the oral tradition of the Celts in this particular book doesn't speak to his lack of appreciation for it, I don't believe. It is, in fact, one of the reasons the spirituality and culture kept alive and growing. If you ever see clips of Philip talking in various movies and documentaries that he has appeared in, he often talks about such things. In an oral tradition, there is room for change and growth, whereas in a written tradition, the ideas and "dogmas", if you will, are "crystalized", to use his term, and at that point they are no longer able to evolve or grow, and so you have an inevitable eventual breakdown of the religious system as it no longer serves the people because the world keeps changing and evolving.

Anyway, I ramble. I wonder what happened to our other people who were going to join us in this group? If we are it, I guess I'd better move on to Chapter 2 -- oh! But not before I get back to the questions that Kevin raised about the Druid and Druidess portion of Chapter One! See, I can remember some things!! :-D

Jennifer
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PS...is everyone else getting the updates from Goodreads about a week late??

Wow...Now I'm gonna have to go back and read the chapter again! LOL

I can answer all except the questions in the last paragraph without going back, however. Well, I take that back. Having only read the first paragraph, all I can say is that it appears that this book is going to be an introduction to Druidry. I didn't really look at the Table of Contents, so I'm not sure how in-depth he goes.

In the gwersu (or lessons) that OBOD sends out, the student is ALWAYS encouraged to bring to the table their own input. I think this is one of the things that makes OBOD different than most other organizations I've ever seen. OBOD is constantly evolving based upon what others bring and contribute to it -- it is like no other organization or order I've ever known. My druid partner calls it the anti-organizatiom organization. LOL To my knowledge, even the lessons themselves may be written by members who have been studying for a while -- or submissions may be included as a supplementary gwers or in a miscellany that is provided with one of the packets. So yes, Philip's view on Druidry is that it is VERY dynamic; that is the way OBOD is (un)organized, and each person is encouraged to develop their own unique practice.

Also Philip believes that mystery is indeed a very real part of life, and in fact it is -- he opens the initiate's eyes to see it almost immediately in the first year of the Bardic grade. Of course, the student must be willing to allow this to happen. The magic exists all around us; we keep trying to tell people that and they look at us like we're crazy...but that is one reason my partner and I feel no need to "practice magick" -- we have learned to go with the flow of life instead of trying to bend it to our own ego and will. We learn to enjoy the mystery and allow the magic to unfold, and it is absolutely wonderful.

I'll have to get back to you with my feedback on the other questions after I have re-read the part on Druids and Druidesses. You raise some very good questions...obviously I missed a lot in that section (I must have been dozing off about that time! lol)

GG
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I think that all of us that truly commit to the druid path are called to it in one way or another, Bill. I was also called through the pages of a book -- it was
The Mist-Filled Path: Celtic Wisdom for Exiles, Wanderers and Seekers, by Frank McEowan. It had been probably almost two years since I left my Christian faith, and I was indeed wandering, and in exile since leaving my faith meant excommunication from the church and shunning by my friends and family. I had bought the book at least a year prior and then shelved it (I'm a book whore, you see...when a title grabs me, I grab the book, knowing that in due time I'll be needing it! LOL) My friend Brian had been feeding me info on the Celts because I was going through an ancestral identity crisis as part of my midlife crisis (my family never talked about anything like that)...so when I finally noticed the book on the shelf again a year later, I was definitely ready for it.

Exile, wanderer and seeker -- that was me, and it led me to Druidry. I heard the call of the ancestors and the earth mother -- the mythology took me a little longer, as it was a bit foreign to me, but I absolutely adored Joseph Campbell, and Jung, and Philip, being a Jungian psychologist, includes a lot of stuff that resonates with all of that along with the Celtic mythology so that by the end of my first year in the Bardic grade, I had fully absorbed and digested so much of the Celtic mythology that it was second nature to me. I guess if it's in your genes, it doesn't take long. :-)

Hi all,

Well, I guess I'll be first to comment on the first chapter. I thought the quote by Cairistiona Worthington at the beginning of the chapter was particularly noteworthy, in that my own journey thus far has been a process of addressing and letting go of many things from my past, in order to make room for what is to come and embracing the the new. I wondered, however, how many people would be scared off by the knowledge that "the path is long"? LOL Although anyone who is looking for a short road to an easy and finite destination shouldn't be considering druidry anyway.

Also, I thought it would be interesting to find out what everyone's answer was to the exercise that Philip proposed in the chapter: What was the greatest "Love" that drew you to druidry? Mine was the Love of Truth, beyond a doubt. I had left Christianity in search of Truth, considered Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, Qabalah...none of them felt quite right, although Buddhism was the closest. Then I looked at the different Orders of Druids: AODA (at that time practically nonexistent), ADF (too dogmatic and a self-proclaimed 'religion') and OBOD...and hung out at the OBOD message boards until I realized that I felt at home there. That's when I decided to take the plunge.

And it fit me to a "T" for all the reasons that Philip expresses in the first chapter.

:D

GG
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Hi Kevin, Bill and Mo both seem otherwise occupied lately, don't they? Maybe we should take over!

I don't think you can count yourself among the ranks of the seniors until you have performed the official rite of passage: The colonoscopy. Or maybe that's just here in the U.S. LOL Sorry, didn't mean to get off topic, I just had to throw it in...after all, our society is so bereft of rites of passage for people these days, I feel it is important to note when they actually manage to come up with one. :)

GG
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Bill sent out a message asking everyone participaing in the October reading group to tell a little about themselves, and we didn't have a discussion board started yet, so I am taking the liberty of starting one.

My name is Jennifer, "Druid name" is Garangwyn, which in Welsh means White Heron. I am currently finishing up the Ovate grade with the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids (OBOD) and was invited by Bill to join your illustrious group. :-) That's all the really important stuff about me, I guess. LOL

How are we going to proceed with this, since tomorrow is October 1 (and I have not had the time to cheat and start reading the book yet)...are we going to just have a free-for-all discussion or, say, "assign" a certain number of chapters per week, or what? Bill? Some direction s'il vous plait?

GG
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Wow, Mo -- you really ARE a glutton for punishment! LOL Best wishes on your ambitious endeavors! May you find joy and delight as you explore your path.

Bendithion!

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Understood! Just as I need to focus on my OBOD gwersu...always too much to do, and too little time! :-)

Okay. I am easily confused, as you can see. LOL

Then this is going to replace the previous book we were going to read in October??