#Ancient Order of Druids

[nmnmrsz]

#? #Stonehenge #Summer Solstice #1970's #Druidism #Druid #Druids #Ancient Order of Druids #Photography #Black and White #June #Celts #Celtic #Bards #AP Photos #Nature #Sun #Dawn #Sunrise

[master-john-uk]

Winston Churchill's initiation into the Ancient Order of Druids at Blenheim Palace, 15th August 1908.

The Ancient Order of Druids (AOD) was founded (or revived) in London in 1781, and is the world's oldest surviving druidic's society. Although it shares some of the symbolism of ancient Pagan traditions, it is not a religious organisation... in fact, religious and political discussions are banned at Lodge meetings. And, although there are similarities, it is very distinct from Freemasonry.

The AOD's motto is, Justice, Philanthropy and Brotherly Love. It is a Fraternity and Friendly society... or, basically a charitable organisation.

#winston churchill #ancient order of druids #1908

[redrcs]

United Ancient Order of Druids

Mount Morgan branch

Founded in England in 1833. Now defunct in all countries, except the United States where it still had a membership as of 2019

#original photographers #self help societies #Mount Morgan #united ancient order of druids

[starburstsobsessions]

been swooning over her since 2020 💕 (I still have not 100% it I just stare at her all day)

#I beat wrath of druids last night tho! It’s was SO FUCKING GOOD #Lesbian Viking simulator #she’s my biggest crush ever no cap #I could talk about her forever #eivor wolfkissed #female eivor #assassins creed #ac valhalla #starbursts art #All I have left is vinland arc and order of the ancients stuff + some collectibles #reasonable considering I took a long break from it #never stopped thinking about her tho #I spent so long drawing this very worth it I’m in love with her #LOVE wrath of druids armor she is so hot in it #OK OK IM DONE IM DONE #No but I forgot what wrath of druids hair looked like for awhile rip anyway!!!! #asassin’s creed

[harbinger-broth]

I do actually want to write more here than just things about the Sphere of Protection, but that's where I am in my journey right now.

I'm currently in the middle of moving and having my landlord make a plethora of questionable and downright immoral moves on us and our living situation, and these next few days are going to be very busy trying to finish my last days of work, moving things, packing things, avoiding the people moving in literally on top of me while we are trying to move out (days before our move date. months before our lease ends.) So things are very hectic.

however, I'll be in my home town and home ecoregion by the end of this week!! once things settle down i plan to submit for my AODA membership and get out on some deeply loved and heavily missed trails in my area :) Hopefully I'll have quite a bit more to post about when things settle down.

#druidry #magick #ancient order of druids in america #aoda #modern druids #pagan #witch community #druid #spirituality #sphere of protection #update #life update #transition

[lungfuls]

i do have ideas for the novels i want to write, but they're kind of gimmicky fantasy stuff that a lot of readers would find overdone. that said, honestly, i think i could do it better than a lot of authors whose books are considered good. also i'm not trying to write the highest quality stuff, just seeing how much success i'd have churning out fun/angsty romance stories. romance readers generally want tropes in their stories and including popular ones is part of succeeding at writing them i think

#i want to do like ancient irish druid-related fantasy stuff where the mmc is in a druid order or something #other series have done similar things like i said e.g. the fever series but lowkey i'm sorry that's not a well-written series at all #yet it's still popular #i would publish under a pseudonym bc i wouldn't want these to be associated with more passion project-y writing i might publish in future

[witchcraftandmayhem]

There is this misguided idea that everything a witch uses for their craft must be based on something old or ancient. This can lead to the spread of misinformation about where many of these spells, rituals, and practices actually come from.

Many of our practices are actually fairly modern, and that is ok! Our practices don't have to be from ancient times in order for them to mean something. I think we need to learn where our practices come from and be more honest about their age.

Modern witchcraft practices are a good thing! We grow and change, and so should our practices. There is nothing wrong with mixing some old in with the new. We should be careful when claiming something is from the ancient druids if we aren't certain that it actually is.

#paganism #witch community #witchblr #witchcraft #witches #spells #witches of tumblr #spellwork #witchcraft 101 #altar

[lizardsfromspace]

What secrets do you hold, my mysterious tome?

Spellbook shoplifted from the new age section of Barnes and Noble: "These secrets have been held by my order of druids since our days millennia ago where they were burning us as witches. First of all, make sure to honor the ancient Celtic potato goddess, the ancient Roman tomato god, and the relatively old Iberian corn gods for a bountiful harvest, as you'll need two dozen eggs for this curse, which will literally fucking kill someone,"

#incredible #magic #two of those are jokes but i know there's more than one that sincerely discusses an ancient Celtic potato god

[talonabraxas]

Brigit Druid Goddess Talon Abraxas

Brigit is a ‘pan Celtic’ goddess, who was worshipped by both the Goidelic and Brythonic Celts in the British Isles and beyond. She is a solar deity, who once hung her mantle on a sunbeam. In Celtic mythology, Brigit is the daughter of the Morrighan and the Dagda, the Good God and Chief of the Tuatha de Danaan, the ancient fairy race of Ireland, and the sister of Ogma, who invented the Ogham alphabet. She was the wife of Bres, King of the Fomorians (who were at war with the Tuatha de Danaan). Brigit was said to have been the mediator of peace between the two ancient warring tribes. She was the mother of the Three Gods of Danu – Ruadan, Iuchar and Uar. These three Gods were said to have married the three princesses of Ireland – Eire, Fodhla and Banbha. In other sources, Brigid is the daughter of Boann, the Goddess of the River Boyne in Ireland. Boann (bo fhionn) means ‘white cow’, an association she shares with Brigid. Brigit is primarily the patron Goddess of poets, healers and smiths. She is also a patron of other womanly arts – midwifery, dyeing, weaving and brewing, and the guardian of children and farm animals – particularly cows. The island of Ireland itself is said to be the green mantle of Brigit. She is also said to be the patron of travellers, sailors, and fugitives. She is specifically a patroness to the Druids in her aspects of poetry (Bards), healing and prophecy (Ovates) and blacksmithing (Druids).

[thecreaturecodex]

Stegon

"Stegon render" © deviantArt user SuperSamYoshi, accessed at his gallery here

[Stegon is a Return of Ultraman kaiju that seems to be an homage to original Ultraman monster Seabozu. Both are skeletal dinosaur kaiju that are treated sympathetically, and Stegon uses a modified version of Seabozu's roar for a sound effect. This is somewhat striking because Stegon definitely kills people. Like, we see construction workers get melted. So I wanted my flavor text to pay homage to that, and to be a technically-against-the-rules-in-PF1e neutrally aligned undead. I'm also including a reference to a thematically similar kaiju who appears in the same series that I'm also intending to stat up in this project.]

Stegon CR 17 N Undead This creature resembles the skeleton of an oversized reptile, its stance quadrupedal. Its skull has a pointed snout and projecting teeth. Its bones are embedded in a tarry mass, giving the creature a bulky body.

A stegon is a chimeric undead creature made out of the bones of dinosaurs and other ancient megafauna. These bones are suspended in a black tarry mass, something like asphalt. When a bone bed is disturbed, not to uncover its secrets and learn about its former inhabitants, but in order to exploit the land, a stegon may rise to avenge the desecration of its grave. These grave sites are sometimes those guarded by an oxter, which can lead the two monsters to collaborating in their destructive vengeance. Once it has avenged itself, stegons tend to roam widely and target land developments, strip mines and other massive construction projects that devastate the land. As such, stegons are among the few undead creatures that are respected in druidic traditions, although a druid would be likely to try to lay the animal souls to rest after they have completed their mission.

Stegons typically attack their targets using their breath weapons and trampling feet. They can breathe a cloud of acidic mist. This acid is much more potent against flesh and bone than metals and minerals, and the gear of stegon victims may litter its lair. If creatures fight back, or attack it, it fights with its teeth and tail if cornered, but is just as likely to try to walk away, trusting to its natural armor and resistances to shrug off attacks.

Stegon CR 17 XP 102,400 N Colossal undead Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +24, scent Defense AC 31, touch 2, flat-footed 31 (-8 size, +33 natural) hp 300 (24d8+192) Fort +17, Ref +8, Will +16; channel resistance +2 DR 15/magic and bludgeoning; Immune acid, force, undead traits Offense Speed 50 ft. Melee bite +27 (2d8+16/19-20 plus 4d6 acid), tail slap +24 (3d8+8) Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (60 foot cone, 18d6 acid, Ref DC 29, 1d4 rounds), trample (Ref DC 38, 2d6+24)  Statistics Str 43, Dex 10, Con -, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 25 Base Atk +18; CMB +42 (+44 bull rush); CMD 52 (56 vs. trip) Feats Awesome Blow, Blind-fight, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Multiattack, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Climb +22, Perception +24, Swim +19 SQ organic acid Ecology Environment any land and underground Organization solitary Treasure incidental Special Abilities Breath Weapon (Su) When a stegon uses its breath weapon, the cone of acidic mist condenses into a 20 foot radius cloud at its origin point. This cloud obscures vision as a fog cloud spell and deals 2d6 acid damage every round to creatures and objects in the area (no save). This cloud lasts for 1d4+1 rounds before dissipating, and can be dissipated with strong or stronger wind. The save DC is Charisma based. Organic Acid (Ex) Acid damage dealt by a stegon’s breath weapon and bite deals minimum damage to creatures or objects made of stone or metal. It ignores the hardness of creatures or objects made of organic materials, such as wood or bone.

#pathfinder 1e #ultraman #return of ultraman #stegon #kaiju #undead

[y-rhywbeth2]

I've had an idea at the back of my mind which I was reminded of, examining that first long rest scene where Durge can meditate on their identity.

Several classes; paladin, druid, wizard, ranger, barbarian and fighter refer to their grasp of the classes basic education as a "faded instinct". Being a cleric is "an ancient fool's errand remembered out of habit" (worshipping Bhaal is their job and very recent in their lives, so that's an interesting remark from a priest). It's probably just brain damage, and this is one of those ideas where I'm probably just going to chuck it around but not commit to it as a headcanon.

My theory was regarding Durge's obvious level loss (from somebody strong enough to break into the eighth hell to a level one character). While specialty priests such as Bhaal's deathstalkers got dropped as an individual class option (basically cleric+, and in 3.5e it was a prestige class), it would mean they were sort-of canonically multiclassed, in a way. Durge did learn their own skills before Bhaal decided it was time to join the temple (for example, joining the paladin order that Bhaal eventually made them slaughter), and I wonder if maybe all of the character levels they had after that first one was as a cleric of Bhaal/Deathstalker. Bhaal's clergy only had clerics and specialty priests before his death, it is traditional. After their fall from grace, Bhaal rescinded his patronage as part of their test, leaving them with only the training for the original character class they chose before joining the temple - which is level 1.

#Sometimes a headcanon takes precedence over canon and sometimes it's just something you poke with a stick out of curiosity #babbling #durge #headcanoning.

[lunavenefica]

⛤How To Celebrate Samhain⛤

Samhain, Celtic New Year, is the passage, threshold, conclusion and beginning.

It is the darkness from which everything begins, the silence from which the first vibration will arise, that initial void that must be in order for birth to take place.

Precious and necessary time. Time of rest and silent listening.

Threshold of this passage, of the limit between life, death and life, Samhain is an open door between the dimensions of time and existence.

The guardian of this threshold is Hecate, an ancient goddess who holds the keys of this Celebration.

Fairies and spirits are especially active on this night.

It is equally one of the many times to honor and host dead ancestors.

Prayers and food are left on the door steps and altar doors are left open and additional chairs are set outside. 

Hearths are clean and home hearths are rekindled by a sacred common bonfire that is lit by rubbing. 

The patron God and Goddess of this festival are the Dagda and the Morrigan.

On this day, spirits and fairy creatures invite mortals to spend a year together on the Hill of Delights with them; the druids act in the opposite direction, writing messages for the dead and entrusting them to the fire. 

With the food and drinks of the afterlife, wine, beer and mead, they feast for the duration of the festival, which takes place from a minimum of 3 days to a maximum of 6 weeks, including meetings, battles, prophecies, spells and ritual sacrifices, in honor of the god of fertility Dagda and his wife Morrighan.

In the Celtic tale "The Wasting Sickness of Cuchulainn", the feast of Samhain is celebrated for a total of 7 days, of which 3 before and 3 after the party night.

To worthily celebrate the full circle of existence we must recognize the reality of death and physical decline as natural events, not as something to be ignored or hidden. 

To these energies we must now pay homage but at the same time we must remember the new life that will come.

The Holly King teaches us that death is an end but also a beginning. 

Let us keep in mind the lesson of the ancient Celts and do not indulge in sadness!

⛤Little things to do for Samhain:

Collect acorns, giving an acorn to friends and family as a wish for good luck.

Toast the local orchard with ale and cider in thanks for a copious harvest. Part of the harvest was left on the trees to ask for a good harvest in the coming years.

Apples were also buried to provide food for the spirits waiting to be reborn.

Before pumpkins were introduced, turnips were carved outside and lit with small candles. They could then be placed on the windows or carried in procession around the neighborhood to ward off diabolical intentions.

Scary stories were told throughout the night until the crowing of the cock drove all the fairies and spirits back into their world.

Stones marked with the owners' names were thrown into the fire and recovered the next morning. The state of the stone indicated the person's luck for the coming year.

But you can also:

Invite your friends to dinner, dress up as witches and ghosts, decorate your homes with Halloween pumpkins and celebrate traditional games by trying to grab the sacred apples hanging from a string or floating in a basin with our mouths of water!

You can have fun carving and digging pumpkins and turnips, inserting candles in them to expose them to the windows or balconies of your homes.

Finally, it is a moment in which in order to favor our regeneration, we can ritually abandon all the things of the past that we must or want to leave, abandon (let die) the things that we do not like in our life. 

We can then write these things on slips of paper to burn them in our Samhain fire, which can also be a black or otherwise dark colored candle.

You can say a phrase three times like: "The so-and-so thing has come into being, the so-and-so thing has its season, and the so-and-so is going away!" Then, the slip of paper is burned in the flame.

We can then, more simply, give away or burn those objects that we no longer like.

It's time to give up bad habits, to change your life! In fact, before the new growth can begin, the soil must be fertilized with the remains of the previous year's crops and with the waste (if there were no death and decomposition there would be no Life).

An undoubtedly more complex ritual, but one that is worth performing, can be performed in our homes. 

At sunset, the eve of Samhain, all the lights in the house go out and you stand in front of a black or dark candle. We hear the old year that is about to die, we remember all the good or bad things that you have experienced, we remember the people dear to you who are no longer there, and when we feel ready we light the candle saying: "I welcome them with this light. spirits of those who left before me. Welcome! ".

 Let's take a cup or a glass full of wine and drink some, after having said: "To the dead!", Leaving a few drops. 

We can then light a special candle for each of your dead friends or relatives: it can also be white or colored candles. 

To light them we use the dark candle, and with the same candle we also light the Halloween pumpkin lanterns, if we have made any.

After doing this we take a plate or a tray where we will have put some bread or sweets (you can use the "sweets of the dead" if there are typical recipes in your area) and we invite invisible friends to share the food with us. 

Always leave a few portions.

Then, taking the dark candle, we go to all the rooms and turn on all the lights, maybe just for a few minutes.

Let's go out the front door and throw a coin: it should be silver but a common coin will do anyway.

We say: "Money on the floor, money under the door" and leave the coin on the floor for a month, perhaps sliding it under the doormat. It will bring good luck to our home.

Let us meditate on the meaning of this holiday and leave the door of the house open to let our invisible friends in!

⛤Isidora ⛤

#samhain #halloween #happy halloween #spooky season #celts #celtic wicca #wicca #paganism #pagan wicca #samhain celebration #spells #witch aesthetic

[deconstructthesoup]

I saw a D&D AU with the Voices, and I decided that I also wanted to do a D&D AU with the Vessels, so here goes:

*cracks knuckles*

The players are the chapter 2 vessels, who have joined together after they were each mysteriously attacked---and nearly kidnapped---by worshipers of a primordial god only known as The Narrator. Even though they're all vastly different people with vastly different motivations, they have to work together in order to figure out how they've somehow angered a long-forgotten god.

The Tower is a scourge aasimar and an Oath of Conquest paladin, who devoted herself to The Apotheosis, queen of the gods and the embodiment of justice and retribution. She acts as the self-appointed leader of the group, even though a good chunk of the other players are having none of her self-righteousness and narcissism. She doesn't believe that the Narrator actually exists, and considers the quest to just be another heretic-killing spree.

The Adversary is a tiefling Ancestral Guardians barbarian, who grew up in a rough-and-tumble all-barbarian community and is slated to become its next leader. She's just happy to travel around the world bashing heads, and she winds up clashing the most with Tower---mainly due to their very different backgrounds. She genuinely doesn't care who or what the Narrator is, and just wants to kick ass and have a good time.

The Spectre is a ghost and a necromancer wizard, who actually died when she was attacked and has brought herself back in order to track down her killer and to take her revenge. She kind of lost herself in the ivory tower of academia when she was alive, and part of the reason she's sticking with the others is so she can actually form connections before it's truly too late. She's studied several old cults in her time, but the only thing she's found of The Narrator is an old painting of a crow with sharp teeth...

The Nightmare is a dhampir and an Undead warlock, who draws her magic from the dread vampire queen who turned her. She is no stranger to being hunted, for people fear and shun vampires and their spawn, but she knows full well that this time is different. And during the attack, she managed to devour a dream of her would-be captor, getting a little glimpse into the ancient powers of the god that wants her gone... and, well, who can resist the allure of taking down a being as old as time?

The Witch is a tabaxi Circle of Spores druid and an Arcane Trickster rogue, who's been living on her own in the woods after suffering a great betrayal and heartbreak that damaged her trust in anyone. She's only working with the others because she believes she'll get further if she does, and while she initially intends to backstab them once they're no longer useful, she finds herself growing closer to them as their journey continues. All she really wants is to go back to her old life... but her goal may change as her walls begin to come down.

The Prisoner is a human Armorer artificer, who once angered an archfey and was cursed to always be bound in chains. Undeterred, she turned this to her advantage, reforging her chains into armor that she could use as a weapon. She starts traveling with the rest purely due to self-preservation, as every time she resolved to just hide, The Narrator's worshipers found her again---but she's definitely the practical mind that they needed.

The Damsel is a half-elf College of Creation bard and a Beastmaster ranger, and she's a princess whose kingdom was usurped by an evil family member, leaving her on the run. She's very naive about how the world works, mainly due to being sheltered her entire life, and is sure that this situation can be solved with a nice conversation. Thankfully, she has someone to help her...

The Beast is a fey that was cursed to take the form of a barely-sapient panther, and she barely recalls her life in the Feywild. Still, she has a soft spot for the innocent princess she came across in the woods one day, and she will protect her for as long as she can.

The Razor is an elf Soulknife rogue and a College of Swords bard, and she's actually a pretty well-known circus performer. She's absolute chaos personified, and she really doesn't give a shit about The Narrator either way---she's just ready to kick ass, stab people, and hang out with her new best friends. Even if not all of them are super into being friends with the crazy blade lady.

And last but not least, The Stranger is a changeling Divine Soul sorcerer and a Grave Domain cleric, who unknowingly draws their power from the long-forgotten goddess of change, transformation, endings, and new beginnings. They woke up one day with no memory of who they were, and were immediately attacked for reasons they could not explain---so, needless to say, they're pretty traumatized. It also doesn't help that they don't even know what they really look like, so they're constantly changing to reflect what people expect of them... which isn't the most healthy thing, but they're an amnesiac, give them a break.

So... yeah!

#the chapter 3 vessels are either gods or monsters #slay the princess #dnd #stp the tower #stp the adversary #stp the spectre #stp the nightmare #stp the witch #stp the prisoner #stp the damsel #stp the beast #stp the razor #stp the stranger

[breelandwalker]

New book announcement from Dana O'Driscoll, author of Sacred Actions and the companion piece, the Sacred Actions Journal - her new title, Land Healing: Physical, Metaphysical, and Ritual Approaches for Healing the Earth.  The book is now available for preorder and will be released on March 28, 2024.

Dana O'Driscoll is the head of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) and was kind enough to be a guest on Hex Positive back in 2021 (Ep. 014 - American Druidry with Dana O'Driscoll). I'm excited to read this new title when it comes out and highly recommend Sacred Actions as well.

Check out the full announcement on her Wordpress and preorder your copy!

#witchcraft #witchblr #witch community #pagan #druidry #witchy books #book recs #green witchcraft

[female-malice]

can you give me some tips on how to awaken your inner witch? my problem is that my inner reddit bro refuses to let me believe in things like astrology, witchcraft and palmistry. idk where to start because eveything comes off as phony to me. i want to do rituals and believe in something bigger than myself because the trauma of being raised in and escaping an Abrahamic religion will never leave me.

Start here:

Crann Bethadh. The Celtic tree of life. The green leaves photosynthesize energy from the sun to grow the tree. Then they fall to the ground. By covering the ground, they prevent certain weedy plants from colonizing the area around the tree. They also help the soil around the tree retain moisture. Over time, the leaf litter decays into humus. The rich nutritious humus creates a perfect environment for the interconnected tree roots and mycorrhizal network. The mycorrhizae store nutrients for the tree and gradually distribute them when the tree needs them.

Not only do leaves fall to the ground, but seeds, too. The tree of life shows them falling to the ground and growing into new trees.

This ancient tree of life symbol intricately illustrates these cycles in detail. The leaves growing, falling, protecting the roots, decaying into humus, and being managed and stored by mycorrhizae. This process happens over the course of a whole year. But in the tree of life, time is a circle and you can view the whole year at once. And you can see the symmetry of cyclical time. As above, so below. As the sun energizes the tree, so too does the soil.

The tree is a perfect holy being. She is a saint. She is an autotroph. She does not need to take life in order to live. Her relationship with the life-death cycle is fascinating and there is so much we can learn from her.

But we are very different. We are heterotrophs. We can strive to be like the tree saints, but we can never reach true sainthood. We must take life to live. Therein lies the great riddle of heterotroph life. All other heterotrophs have solved that riddle. And our ancestors solved that riddle, too. The answer to that riddle was ancient and loved and protected. And that answer was passed down from one generation to the next. It was passed down through animism and holy trees and heroic stories. It was passed down by midwives and scouts and druids. The answer was used to resolve conflicts between different people. And it was used to resolve conflicts between different forms of life. Our ancestors were never perfect. But they did solve this riddle.

But then they came across a different answer. A much simpler answer to the riddle from a far off land with brilliant cities and fierce armies. For this simple answer, you did not need to try and conceptualize time as a circle. You did not need to hold the whole cycle, life, death, above, below, all together in your head. This new answer was more linear. All you needed to know was that a heavenly father created nature and then gave men dominion over that nature.

But not everyone is charmed by simplicity. The ancient solution to the riddle still carried on alongside this Abrahamic solution. Christianity taught people to be farmers and to produce wealth for their holy feudal lords. But getting the pagans to do any kind of organized wealth production was like herding cats. They were a woodland headache for the lords who were supposed to turn their forest lands into gold. And then a plague came and many Christians died. But in the middle of the forest where people lived by ancient knowledge, they fared much better. And so suspicions grew. And the church capitalized on those suspicions.

The Hammer of Witches. After the bible, this was the second-most popular book during the renaissance.

Centuries of this. The ancient answer to the great heterotroph riddle was burned at the stake.

In the absence of that complicated ancient knowledge, men began trying to rebuild complexity.

Alongside men's mysticism and alchemy, the tree of life survived in various strange and altered forms. Eventually, Carl Linnaeus gave us this one.

Men are at the top of the tree because they are closest to a heavenly father. And all other life is below men. All other life exists to raise men up to that heavenly father. Although Carl's Christianity permeates his work, he did spend most of his life observing life. And his strange tree reintroduced an ancient question that many had forgotten how to ask. Is it maybe all connected? Are we maybe all cousins?

And a century later, Darwin answered that question with the brilliant science of evolutionary biology. Yes, it is all connected. We are all cousins. And there is a tree of life. And we can look at all lifetimes all at once. We can hold it all in our minds. And it looks like this.

And where are we? Zoom in on that tiny branch on the very far right. There we are. This tree is not symmetrical and perfect like the saintly Celtic autotroph tree. This is a wild chaotic fractal. The rings of extinction resemble the rings on a tree trunk.

Fast growth in spring/early summer. Slow growth in late summer/fall. And no growth in winter.

Just as there is annual seasons for trees, there is geologic seasons for biodiversity. There are springs that bring an explosion of biodiversity. There are summers where all that new life co-evolves. There are falls where some unfit variations of life fade away. And there are winters of mass extinction where entire branches of the tree of life crumble into dust.

Annual seasons follow the dance of the Earth around the Sun. And geologic seasons are influenced by the Earth's various personalities and moods. The Earth is alive, too. The trees of life refer to the biodiversity on her crust. But the Earth herself is like a giant cell or giant particle, with a core, mantel, crust, and atmosphere.

And every 100 million years or so, there's a gas leak or some volcanism or an awkward collision. And this causes a mass extinction.

The last one was an asteroid 66 million years ago. That winter gave way to a brilliant spring of mammalian biodiversity. But we're already back to winter again so soon. We were supposed to get another 40 million years of mammal paradise. But instead, humanity has summoned an early winter. And how did we manage to do that?

Well, the Abrahamic solution to the heterotroph riddle is incorrect. Men do not have dominion over nature. The world is not linear. It is cyclical. It's a complex system of mutual relationships. But for the last 600 years, the ruling class has killed and terrorized every human who understood that ancient knowledge. And now that knowledge is endangered. It might even be extinct but I hope it isn't.

Witchcraft is the process of rediscovering the answer to the heterotroph riddle. It's the process of conjuring the wisdom that our ancestors were prevented from passing on to us. It's about healing a 600 year old wound and preparing for winter.

#cc

[harbinger-broth]

today I visualized myself AS the elements, and sort of rushed through the whole ritual. I did it very quickly, but strangely enough it almost worked better??

It seems that if i don't give myself enough time to second guess my visualizations, words, and movements, they are clearer and more intentional. I know that seems strange, because rushing is usually a negative things, but pushing myself through the SoP without letting myself second guess helped me get to the root of the ritual. it isn't a meditation, but a ritual. with a direct correlation between action and product. it is magick, not contemplation(though that isn't the same as meditation either i have recently learned. I may do a post about that.)

I think i want to outline the SoP in an easy to reference format. That way I'm not scrolling through the full webpage when I forget a line or such. Perhaps i will post that too?

#druidry #magick #ancient order of druids in america #aoda #modern druids #pagan #witch community #druid #spirituality #sphere of protection