Normally, I do not take this long between Parts One and Two of a series of posts.  Unfortunately, Life does have a habit of rearing its head when least expected. Nonetheless, time to move forward with the next steps in this little journey.

I started my little foray into the arena of Practical Druidry versus Contemplative Druidry with the first post a few days back. I wandered a bit through the paths and game-trails of Practical Druidry – knowing that I was only scratching the surface of the topic. And while I found some of the terminology to be somewhat strange and curious, the underlying concepts were extremely familiar to me. Much like when you hear the strains of a piece of music, and you cannot quite place a finger on the artist, much less the title — but you know you have heard it before. I know that my three little posts will resemble something close to the classic yellow post-it notes, which permeate the edges of my monitor – small signposts meant to jar my memory on a topic rather than completely inform me of its content. However, to this point, these three little post-it notes mark the moment where I take a few deep breaths before I dive deep under the water. Yes, I will be diving deeper into the topics as I move along past these three posts.

Now, Contemplative Druidry is something I am a bit more familiar with. Or I should rather say I am more familiar with the techniques/tools utilized in the practice of Contemplative Druidry. My understanding here is that Contemplative Druidry is the practice of reasoned study and thought towards the meanings and connections of the world around us through meditation, group/individual study/discussion, and mindfulness of the origins of the things we utilize. Meditation is something I have spent a lot of my spiritual utilizing – as a tool for clearing my mind, as a means for bringing myself back to center, as a place of quiet contemplation, and from time to time (with a lot of time between) as a place between the worlds where I can encounter Crow, for who I am claimed (that’s for another blog posting at another time).

Now, as I postulated in my post on Practical Druidry, there’s a very good chance that I may have aspects of this definition wrong. There may be something far better in use somewhere else. This is merely my own initial steps into this area. Or put another way, my forest looks a little different than this one. Where mine has evergreen trees, and silver birches all around, here there are Maples, Oaks, and Apple trees. While the trees are different in configuration, its still a forest.

Splitting this down into pieces, I notice one particular point that has crossed with my current Path recently. Understanding where something has come from. In a recent Druidry lesson, this point was brought up. To take something and try and trace it back to its origins. See where it comes from. How it obtained the shape it has now, and all the people that have touched it in one way or another. To realize how inter-connected we are. And then to realize what you have done for a single object. You begin to look around you at all the pieces that are a part of your environment – the computer, your desk, your chair, the clothes you are wearing, the drink that you have nearby, the carpet, the sheetrock that is your walls and ceilings, the two-by-fours that make up the structure of your home, the shingles on the roof, the grass in your yard, the vegetables in your garden, the car in your driveway or garage — each one of those things has a connection to elsewhere, to someone else, to people who share your ideas, and to some who do not. And once all of that is sorted out, you can start to see how vast our world is. And how each of us, as single individuals, make only one small “meep” in the roar that is the voice of humanity. On our own, we are singular people with singular visions — together, when driving in a particular direction under a united set of visions, we are capable of achieving anything we want to.

For me, this is the gist – at the moment – of what Contemplative Druidry is about. Looking at things in ways that we take for granted. or opening our eyes and minds to a new way of viewing things. Finding new ways to see our world, see ourselves, envision our futures – singularly, and collectively. But then what??  We have to find a way to put this formation of ideas into motion.  And I will take a look at that in the next part….