So I have been away from the blog for a short bit. However, I have not been far from the keyboard, and yes, I have been writing, creating, and continuing to explore my Druidry through various means. It is, after all, who I am.

Yes, I have given into the perspective that I am a writer; that the written word is where I should be. I enjoy writing, putting my thoughts into words. I do not like editing and reviewing what I have written nearly as much. Certainly, it is the weaker part of what I do in this medium. However, it is a necessary evil, and a skill set that I will need to take more time to work on.

To that end, I decided to go ahead and open a Patreon page (yes, this is an obligatory advertisement of sorts). Its not a ton of money, nor do I expect many people to sign up for it. Its just a single dollar per month. I could not go any lower than that, otherwise, I would have. The point of the Patreon page is to write more in-depth and personal material than I would dare share on this blog. A lot of the material is very self-introspective, and is some aspects of self-examination. I will also include my poetry there, as well as some photos from my trips to various locations throughout the United States (and sometimes Europe).

Much of this process materializes out of this particular time of year. I tend to do a lot of self inspection during the early part of Spring. The other side of it is to hone my craft of writing. As Tyrion Lannister remarks to Jon Snow in the first novel of George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire“:

My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer and I have my mind…and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That’s why I read so much Jon Snow.

The same goes for any other process – writing, magick working, ritual preparation – repetition matters, as does review. The more you work with something, the more relaxed you get with the process, and your skills grow. Want to be a programmer? Immerse yourself in the language you want to learn. Want to learn a new language to speak or write? Practice it daily. Review your progress, see what you have done. Find your mistakes, and learn from them. That constant aspect of repetition and review will be like muscle memory, and you will soon find these desired skills become nearly second nature.

When someone finds out that I am on a path of Druidry, I typically hear the same question (eventually):

How does one become a Druid?

My usual response these days has been to say that one just lives their daily lives with intention. That you find ways to incorporate these beliefs; whatever they might be or look like, into your everyday living. Stand outside each morning and greet the rising sun in whatever manner feels befitting to you. And within reason for the social setting you are in. Standing on your sixth floor apartment balcony and greeting the sun in the nude might feel “right” but I am fairly sure there is a city ordinance you might be violating. Just sayin’. But living your Druidry (or whatever) should not make you inconvenience your daily life, but rather compliment it. My daily routine does not afford me the ability to rise before the sun and greet its rising like I have in the past. However, I still take a moment out of the morning to stop, and greet the already risen sun. The fact that I no longer greet the sun as it peeks over the horizon does not diminish the significance of the act in my daily life.

How does one become a Druid? Indeed. How does one become a writer? How does one become a policeman? How does one become a musician? Drive. Desire. Repetition through daily life. Review of how one has accomplished what they have in those directions, and seeking to improve on those accomplishments in the future. We build what we are in layers. We start with a base that feeds our desire to become what we want, to be what is inside of us. Each successive layer improves and strengthens what we have achieved. Step by excruciating step.

Will there be failures? Of course there will. There will be mistakes made. Go back and re-read some of my blog posts here. My writing is terrible, and sometimes the flow of thought is not the easiest to follow. My vocabulary is not always the strongest. My spelling mistakes and grammar mutilation is on bright display. But my heart is in everything I write, as jumbled and buried as it might be. Much like the beginning guitarist, it does not sound great, but I have to start somewhere. The same goes for anything that is in the early stages of development. Not everyone is an instant prodigy.

Want to be a Druid? A Pagan? A Polytheist? Whatever else you might be able to think of? Read. Learn. And then do. And do again. And review. And do again. And again. And review. And again. Adjust along the way. Change and alter as necessary. But keep trying. You can do it. You just have to strengthen up your will-power and do it. be prepared to fail. be prepared to learn from that failure. Following the purported quote of Albert Einstein: “…once you stop learning you start dying,” we are always learning, because it is a measure of being alive.