Friday 19 December 2014

Yule - The Yew, Sirius and Loki; the closing of the year

It is Yule the Gewessi closing of the old year and the start of the 12 day interregnum before the start of the new year.   During this time the old sun dies and the new sun is born.   The Yew in my worldview is Yggdrasil rather than the Ash and as Yggdrasil the Yew is the gateway to the cycle of life and death.   The Yew is my soul tree, the tree that speaks to me more than any other in the same way that Loki has involved himself more than any other in my life.   He is one of my patron gods, of my work, his capriciousness suits as I am an I.T. architect.   His role in many myths, including Ragnorak, is to bring things to an end, however, he also has a role in creation; as Lodur he brought life and looks to the first people.   Thus the Yew, Loki and the Yule time period are all intertwined.

The Yew

"The yew has always been a symbol of death and rebirth, the new that springs out of the old, and a fitting tree for us to study at the beginning of the new year. As the days now grow longer with the beginning of a new solar cycle, we move into the future on the achievements of the past, new creativity springs forth grounded in the accomplishments of the year gone by." taken from Mara Freeman's excellent article on the OBOD Druid Tree Lore site here.

Loki / Loca

This interregnum period has long been regarded as a topsy-turvy time, when the rules of the traditional order are replaced and the Lord of Misrule reigns.   Which again provides a link to Loki at this time of year.

For me, it is appropriate to think of Loki, Loca in the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon heathen view of him.   Loca means the one who closes and it is his role at the beginning and the end that is apparent in all the lore.

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of information from web sites that are no longer extant, so I can't provide references.   This next paragraph is taken from Lokesblót by someone whose screen name was CoyotePup "The connection between Loki and Sirius is real.   In addition to its association with trickster gods around the world, the Old Norse name for Sirius is Lokabrenna, "burning done by Loki." According to legend, the winters were once so cold that the oceans would freeze over and the farmers would die simply checking their mail. One year, when the winter was so cold it froze the fire in the hall, the people called upon Loki, whose primary role, like any good trickster, is to provide (and he's a fire-god), to warm winter up just enough so that the people living in the Mid-Garth could,well, live.
Therefore, Loki placed a torch in the sky, and it warmed up the land just enough to make winter livable. However, it moved with the stars, and six months later, towards the end of the summer, it was next to the sun (as could be visibly noticed every sunrise), and began heating up the already warm days. The string attached to Lokabrenna was that, while it warmed the winter nights and let the people live, it also warmed the summer days and drove the people mad."

Sirius

As ever this shows Loki's trickster status, that each of his gifts has a light and dark side.   Sirius is the dog star of the Canis Major constellation which along with Canis Minor run at the feet of Orion the great hunter who stalks the winter skies of the Northern Hemisphere.   Here's a map of the constellations from StarryNightEducation

So look up into a clear night sky and you can see Orion striding across it with his two dogs hunting the Stag who stole the sun.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Alchemical change for Personal Transformation

This is a full write up of my notes from Druidcast 92 all about Alchemy.
Alchemy is traditionally about the transformation of base (negative) to gold (positive) but is important in this context as an approach to personal transformation. The Alchemist is a person attempting to transform their base nature, negative character traits or bad patterns of behaviour into their higher nature by understand and awakening their inner deity. Fundamentally the alchemical process is about making positive change.

The Alchemical Pattern

Alchemy says that there is only one way to learn; through action. The ancient emerald tablet was supposedly created by Hermes/Thoth and describes the alchemical process. Essential to understanding the view of Alchemy is Pattern recognition that fire (for example), whether it be real fire or emotional fire, behaves in a similar way. The principle is that similar elements behave in similar ways.

Speaking out loud is the Mercury/Hermes method for the great transformation of human wishes into divine intentions and back into human reality whilst “Thoth was the god of writing and knowledge. The ancient Egyptians believed that Thoth gave them the gift of hieroglyphic writing. Thoth was also connected with the moon.” After Alexander the Great when his Greek successors became kings of Egypt Thoth became associated with Hermes and thus a written method for Alchemical change.

The emerald tablet allegedly contains the wisdom of Thoth, or his ancient priesthood. They were written on green stone (emerald in the ancient world could cover green jasper or any other green stone). The earliest known versions of the tablet are from the early medieval period. This is the new translation from Fulcanelli:

  • 1) It is true without untruth, certain and most true:
  • 2) that which is below is like that which is on high, and that which is on high is like that which is below; by these things are made the miracles of one thing.
  • 3) And as all things are, and come from One, by the mediation of One, So all things are born from this unique thing by adaption.
  • 4) The Sun is the father and the Moon the mother.
  • 5) The wind carries it in its stomach. The earth is its nourisher and its receptacle.
  • 6) The Father of all the Theleme of the universal world is here.
  • 6a) Its force, or power, remains entire,
  • 7) if it is converted into earth.
  • 7a) You separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with great industry.
  • 8) It climbs from the earth and descends from the sky, and receives the force of things superior and things inferior.
  • 9) You will have by this way, the glory of the world and all obscurity will flee from you.
  • 10) It is the power strong with all power, for it will defeat every subtle thing and penetrate every solid thing
  • 11a) In this way the world was created.
  • 12) From it are born wonderful adaptations, of which the way here is given.
  • 13) That is why I have been called Hermes Tristmegistus, having the three parts of the universal philosophy.
  • 14) This, that I have called the solar Work, is complete.

So how does all this Alchemy relate to our brain functions?
- Left Brain/Right Hand & Masculine learning which comes from text books (e.g. The Alchemist)
- Right Brain/Left Hand & Feminine learning which comes from art (e.g. the Azoth Mandala)
The alchemical process is about harmonising our masculine and feminine energies to bring about the child of change.

The Alchemical Flow

In the Alchemical Mandala the 7 rays move in a pattern starting at Saturn / lead and moving onto Jupiter/tin, Mars/iron, Venus/copper, Mercury/mercury, Moon/Silver and finally Sun/Gold.
The alchemical flow is a way of resolving problems such as personal ones. These are the steps in the Alchemical process which can have both positive and negative aspects...

The 7 Steps or Changes

Thinking - Saturn & Lead - Calcification: these represent heavy dense objects that won't move e.g. inertia or the leaden ego. Willfulness in the rejection of good patterns often heard as the childish inner voice that stamps it's foot saying I don't want to, bad habits and depression can be aspects of this inertia. Fire is the energy to transform the darkness, the first step in the alchemical process is recognising it though. Burn into a powder, once burnt it can be usable as a powder. This may represent getting angry about the blockers in life. The shadow side is in staying inert just thinking or just staying angry and not harnessing its energy.

Feeling - Jupiter & tin – Dissolution: (feel it) this effect can be seen in our big blusterous over-inflated ego. Tin looks like silver but is a cheap, weak imitation. The leftover ash of the previous process is used here. Add water to dissolve it, this dissolution can emotionally be the shedding of tears. The letting go and flowing (tin is easily melted) of water. The shadow side is to get stuck in a pattern of feeling sorry for yourself, to stay crying and not moving forward.

The 2 above are the dark phases but all good stuff starts in the s-h-one-t! Philosophically the flower representing this in the eastern tradition is the Lotus and in the western tradition it is the Rose. Both of these need murky mud at their roots for their heads to produce glorious flowers. Once the two steps above have completed a dark soupy liquid is now created, like oil which can be an explosive mixture. Caution is now required when moving through the next step...

Rationalising - Mars & iron – Separation: the mixture is now full of power and charged with energy (iron is magnetic). Once you can see the real situation and your emotional responses to it then the rational intellect (the iron rod) can be used to categorise and understand it. Mars' shadow is the self destructive reaction to steps 1 and 2. Notice that the process of change doesn't start with the intellect it starts with the problem or situation and your emotional response to it. Only once you've dealt with these two can you start separating what you have found. Now the desire to move forward, the light phase, comes once you can see clearly...

Rectifying – Venus & copper – Conjunction: The root of this is the love or emotional desire to change. Now the you have all the essences separated but which parts do you want to discard and which to recombine? Conjunction is which direction you want to go and the desire to move in that direction. Venus' shadow is the profligate side which is dangerous, leading to a lack of direction. The conjunction allows paths to be chosen... remember the right path is usually the harder one.

Now the masculine, Mars, and the feminine, Venus, have been harmonised the 3 steps below are the light phases of the flowering of the desired change now that the elements are ready to be worked...

Dreaming – Mercury & quicksilver – Fermenting. Now is the dreamtime; to see the vision, get drunk on it and communicate it. In fermentation something has to decompose before coming to life again. Mercury becomes the god of awen for finding your direction, it's about building the dream and discovering the direction to bring it to life. Fundamentally this is the part of identifying the divine intentions (as each person has the divine within) but the shadow side is analysis paralysis; too much thinking about it and not doing it, whatever it is.

Condensing - Moon/silver the mirror, subconscious reflective side - Distillation. The process of change but the shadow side is to be like narcissus looking into the pool and keeping a static view marvelling at how far you've come but not completing the journey. Condensation is a reflection of the dream but the way to move it forward is via the divine water. The moon controls the tides which reflect the moons energy & movement as the fastest of the alchemical planets. The point is that sometimes you need to keep going, despite the highs & lows of the tides. See the bigger picture of the motion of the tides not the emotion of a low or high tide.

Realising - Sun/gold the visible completion - Coagulation. Blood starts off as liquid but coagulates into a solid. It is about allowing the process to work, not seeking to control the flow but allowing the natural realisation, or making permanent, of the previous steps. If the coagulation doesn't work it usually means moving back to a previous step and fixing what failed. The coagulation is the bringing forth of the change into reality – ensuring new positive patterns stick and become permanent. When I stopped looking I found what I was looking for.

Other References - The Emerald Tablet by Dennis William Haulk

Wednesday 3 December 2014

The auspicious hawk

As, suddenly, I watched the Merlin chase and fail to capture one of our garden birds, a sparrow or a blackbird, I reflected that this has been a Hawk year for me. I have seen so many this year.
As Merlin's migrate to warmer lowlands in the winter it is little surprise that it is around Yule I see them. It reminded me of this poem which I wrote upon seeing a Merlin...

Merlin I see you!
Your speckled cloak of feathers
covers your hooded eyes
that hunt fleeting silver Awen doves
through winter's bare leaved Ogham groves.

Merlin you see me!
With faun coloured poachers coat
Wrapped tight against cold
that sends shivers through wintery copse
and darkly haunts my frigid corpse.

Merlin in besom bosk#
together we hunt winter's break;
the revelation
of inspiration, the Darkling Thrush
on coppice gate, a hidden hope to brush.

Image is from here
#besom = bushy, bosk = woodland

Friday 28 November 2014

A Shed Obsession - part 5 - The Shonky Shed

I then had to spend a couple of weekends with friends, already arranged, but niggling at the back of my mind was that the weather was so good for building. The final finishing; getting all the windows in, the door on, filling the gaps between frames and cladding, sealing the windows all took much longer than is expected. Getting a single piece of wood the correct shape to fit could take an hour by the time all the measuring, shaving with a wheelwright plane, and fitting was done.

Here's a view of the skylight central panel in the roof... Over the weeks into October these jobs were all done and I could down tools until my next holiday and enough time to fit the green roof. Then it was search for, plan and order the green roof for the my son's half term holiday. Typically it arrived in a storm during the school run, my son's half term being a week earlier than the local primary school's. Which meant a mad hour of shifting 7m2 of Sedum turf. That left me knackered for most of the rest of the day. The next couple of days meant laying the waterproof membrane, putting the insulation layer up, the root protection layer on and placing the turf on top. I could only manage to lift .5m by 1m sections of turf up the ladder.
Finally the facia boards were on and the gravel, for drainage, placed around the sedum turf.

I could then turn to the interior fittings - finding boards to hang the bikes off. Laying a concrete render over the floor and insulating the walls.

A Shed Obsession - part 4 - Main Build Phase

Over the next days of the plan, until the end of August, it was all the complications of putting the pallets up, preparing the main roof rafters then fixing in the cross braces and the decisions around that process, particularly using recycled wood where the rafters are not exactly the same size, some aren't exactly straight. All of this plus my learning curve as I'd never built any structure before, I've built bicycles and fixed cars and that's it.
It was days of grunt, but the weather was sunny and progress was being made. Although slower than the plan, much like the costs the time was working out to be roughly double. It was not a huge surprise, I'm an experienced estimator in my work and the old paradigm of take your initial estimate and double it is about right. Particularly when you've never done it before. Reusing the old shed wood for all the internal structures (window frames, in-filling structure that the pallets didn't fill) was satisfying but slower. Finding the wood, removing old nails and then cutting it to size made it slower.

By the end of the 5 days the posts were up, the pallets in, the walls mostly completed and the roof structure beams with bracers done. I'd sourced some plyboard for the roof cover but didn't think they'd be wide enough to cover the whole roof. A friend then suggested a roof light, to sop it being too dark... which inspired a change in the design of a middle clear section rather than a solid roof. Solving two problems at once as it also solved my concerns about the weight of the green roof in the middle of the structure. It also meant that having windows East and West facing with an additional central roof panel was letting a lot more light onto my vegetable patch.

All Druidic practice was subsumed into my shed obsession. My inner guides, accessed in meditation, helped me with such pieces of problem solving. My holiday over I then had to go back to work, but the light, warm evenings of the autumn were used to continue the build. The waterproof membrane was cut and stapled into place wrapping the building. The battens went over the membrane. Fixing the plyboard sheets for the roof was done the next weekend as well as painting them with bitumen to make it watertight.

The plastic corrugated roof went sheets down the middle, it was the first real test of the roof structure as it had to take my 80kg weight, shimmying on my belly down the flat roof to finish the bitumen painting and then fix the plastic roof sheets down. It was a great feeling to get off the roof alive and with no disasters. I was becoming convinced that I'd actually created a structure that could support a green roof.


It had all been stress and worry up until then. It was satisfying to have some proof that I could build a solid structure.
The evenings were spent cladding; measuring, sawing, fixing . My old shed fence walls provided the feather lap cladding for the rear of the building (that most wouldn't see) and then I bought cheap, sustainable pine tongue-and-groove cladding (you know from where!) for the sides and front. This is where the fence post issue really bit and the reality of how un-perpendicular the posts were. The word, shonky most probably comes from a mix of shoddy and wonky. The name for this building was being formed...

A Shed Obsession - part 3 - Prep & Go

The preparation phase went roughly to plan. The current shed was emptied and then knocked down, the groundwork phase was changed to completely dismantling the old shed with an aim to reuse as much of the wood as possible. I didn't do any groundwork due to the time it took to break the old shed down into reusable pieces of wood, plus a stack of unusable wood.
Bike riding had gone on hold for Shed building and the good weather was both a blessing, from a building perspective, as well as a curse because I couldn't ride in this beautiful weather.

The details of the plan also became refined as I decided to reuse the windows from the old shed as well as a door from the outhouse. Brighton Wood recycling was contacted and wood was chosen to be delivered alongside the pallets. We could spend a long weekend in Berkshire, whilst our son was at Reading Festival.
Already compromises were coming. The costs were increasing - £500 was plainly un-realistic for the whole shed given the time & quality. With the cladding, which had to be bought new, and purchasing a green roof, once again new, the cost was going to probably double upto £1000. However, given that this is a bespoke sized insulated outdoor space with a green roof, a grand is still cheap.

Then it was time to start. Buying the posts, the wood getting delivered and clearing a working area. The difference between planning and reality started to hit. I had 18 pallets all the standard 1m x 1.2m in size but apparently there are at least 18 ways to build a standard pallet. Which meant the bolt-them-together approach was not going to work.... this was the start of the problem solving on the build. I went for various types of metal plates to screw the pallets together which I discovered in B&Q. It was lucky one had opened just 10 minutes drive down the road. I would be there quite often during the build.

Then getting the posts up and straight was not as straight forward as my thinking suggested. Queue the first of the time & cost vs quality compromises. The posts weren't quite straight, the physical constraints of building alone drove this compromise. This was the end of Day 1. I was already a half day behind schedule.

Friday 7 November 2014

A Shed Obsession - part 2 - The Upcycle Shed Plan - Pallet Built


The inspiration for this pallet Shed came from here 
 http://ruralroutediaries.weebly.com/pallet-shed-building.html
and started with a simple  to do list...

  • Check Friday-Ad / Gumtree / Freecycle / for Doors/Windows &
  • Get Pallets from Brighton Wood recycling = £12 delivery
  • 4 concrete in posts for ground  £40 plus concrete & sand say £50
  • 12 pallets, 6 per side wall 3m wide by 2.4m high for two rows of 3.
  • 3 pallets for back wall 2.4m wide by 1m high then use 2x4 framing lumber for rest, inc window frame.
  • 2 pallets for front wall 2m wide by 2.4m high then use 2x4 framing lumber for rest inc door frame
  • Wall Breathable Membrane 30m2:
http://www.branz.co.nz/cms_show_download.php?id=eb8db874ba698df2552caa2cd854a56290656fd4
cheap = http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/bricks-blocks-lintels-damp-proofing/damp_proof_membranes/NDC-Vapour-Barrier-Roll-Green-9707871?skuId=10078608  £40 + tacks

  • Wall cladding :
http://wenbantimbershop.co.uk/timber-cladding-sussex
http://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/products/cld-cladding/
  • Internal walls - recycled plywood 2 walls @ 10m² plus 2 walls at 2.5x2.5 = 2 x 6.75m² = 13.5m²
  • Roof - 6 2x4 sideways of  4m length : 3m long, .3m (1ft) high  for a min 6% angle on a flat roof
         - 10 2x4 flat of 3m length (1x4 if not going for green roof)
        -  plyboard 4m x 3m   =12m²
        - roofing felt 5m x 3.5m = 17.5m²
  • Green Roof
http://www.redroseforest.co.uk/web/images/stories/downloads/Quick%20guide%20-%20Little%20Green%20Roof%20on%20pitched%20shed.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/gardenstructure_greenroof1.shtml

Door - You may use any size of door, but make sure it fits well in the frame. The trim size frame should be at least 10 mm (3/8") wider and 10 mm (3/8") higher than the overall size of the complete pre-hung door.
Window - The trim size of the frame should be at least 10 mm (3/8") wider and 10 mm (3/8") higher than the overall size of the whole window.

And a simple Schedule :

Preparation
Weekend 1  = 2 days - empty current shed (9th/10th August)
Weekend 2  =   1 day  - knockdown current shed & prepare groundwork, 1 day  - groundwork   (?16th/17th August?)
In-between - freecyle for windows/doors

Main Phase = 5 days Day (26th August - 30th August)
0 - Delivery of pallets, hard/plyboard, wood
1 - put up posts and secure, build roof rafters over the top
2 - fill in with pallets, prepare window & door frames
3 - hardboard/plyboard the roof, cover roof with waterproof.  Deliver external wall cladding.
4 - attach wall membrane to pallets, attach battens to membrane for external cladding
5 - put in the windows & doors, attach external wall cladding
---------------- Main Build Phase Complete --------------------------------------------------------------------
Secondary Phase
6 - stuff insulation (free/recycled) into pallet walls,  line the walls with hard/plyboard
7 - complete the green roof.  Ready for sedum delivery.
------------------------ Main build + 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Phase
-- put in bike storage, organise work space

A Shed Obsession - part 1 - Planning

So, the Blog has been quiet of late, since Lughnasadh really.  The hints were in my earlier post <here> of plans for the year.   I've had a shed obsession.  From late July through to October all of my spare energy and focus has been on this 'Shed'; however more of a man-cave than humble shed.  It needed to do 3 things:
  1. Securely store my bikes
  2. Provide enough space to work on bikes
  3. Provide a flexible space for winter turbo-training (riding a bike without going anywhere!) and as a gym
  4. Optional extra - somewhere to start growing Tomato's earlier in the season

The plans really started to take shape during August when I had to settle upon a type of build.  Obviously, coming from a Gewessi mindset, ecology had to come into the mix along with practical time and cost considerations.   A set of principles formulated themselves:
  • Use recycled wood where possible
  • Cost to be ca £500
  • Timing - allow a week for primary build phase
  • Green roof
  • Time & Cost to prioritise over Quality; the quality aim is functionality with a nod to the aesthetic

Looking at the YouGov planning reg's the eaves height needs to be no greater than 2.5 metres.

So an initial plan was drawn


Then Design Options were reviewed; from building a high quality aesthetic matching the plan with all new wood, to a fully recycled wood shed.   A combination option, the middle way,  was chosen.

Thursday 16 October 2014

The Wanderer

I was reading a side by side translation of this poem and became frustrated at some of the discrepancies I could see between the Anglo-Saxon and the English so I translated some of it myself. The problem with translating the old poems, I am more familiar with Anglo-Saxon and Norse, is that the original poems were created by one, or more likely many, brilliant poets. Sadly their translators (I suspect) are more qualified linguistically than poetically. Add to this the scops and bards love of multiple layers of meaning via their kennings and a true translation becomes a virtually impossible task. However, here's my translation of stanzas 1-28 of the Wanderer...  

The Wanderer vs 1-28
my translation

Often the recluse
remains honourable
with a resigned attitude
though they be much caring
though they're beyond the sea.

Long I sculled
crucified amid the oars, shaking,
wading wretchedly
Across the cold rimed sea;
"wyrd drives ever forward".

Quoth the world-walker
mindful of misfortune
and the shore of slaughter
and decaying wine mates:

Often I sculled alone
in the morning, everyone
of my cares released.
I am not able, now none is alive,
to say my mind;
I don't dare declare
my spirit plainly.

I know, in truth,
it is courtly conduct
that a man's fears are locked,
fastly bound,
held in his heart's locket,
where he keeps his soul.

A weary soul has no desire
to withstand his wyrd
neither can a thin will
help free him;
Indeed, doom desirers
keep dreary thoughts
fastly bound,
held in their heart's locket.

So my inner heart,
often scolding and sad,
deprived of hearth,
far from friends,
is fettered and sealed.
Since long ago,
my gold and wine mates
I laid in the dark earth's bower.

I, humbled and destitute,
sadly sought a new hall
of a blood baron
a bright gold giver.
Where'er, near or far,
I might find
he in the meadhall
of my mind; wise
and offering friendship.
Consolation to a friendless man.
 
Of course Tolkien famously translated and used some of the later Stanzas in his Lament for the Rohirrim in The Two Towers. It's part of the reason I stopped where I did. I don't think I can compete with him...  

Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? 
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? 
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? 
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? 
They have passed like rain on the mountain, 
like a wind in the meadow; 
The days have gone down in the West 
behind the hills into shadow. 
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, 
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?

A full translation of the Wanderer is here

Friday 1 August 2014

Tranquilo Lughnasadh

Wolstonbury

And my heart has always been heathen
Since I first flew across these fields
With my ancestors; Cisse’s wild clan
In youth; many moons within the mind.

Friday 25 July 2014

Gewessi lore - the Salmon

There are 5 streams that fed the Well of Segais. This is where the 9 hazels trees of Wisdom dropped nuts into the pool that the Salmon fed on. Allegorically we could consider the 5 streams to be the 5 senses, maybe this represent the search for wisdom via experience?
We would then need to interpret what the 9 hazel trees represent. Within the Germanic world there were 9 realms or worlds. Within the Celtic world we have the 3 realms of Earth, Sea and Sky plus (arguably) the 3 realms in the Circles of Abred. The 9 trees could come from a 3x3 and so maybe the 9 hazels represent the sum of all knowledge across all the realms?
The Salmon, by eating of the nuts, acquires the sum of all knowledge. Maybe the search for the salmon is the method of inquiry?
In this respect it would be how Fionn accumulates such Druidic knowledge and wisdom - through experience, knowledge and inquiry. The Salmon is a special, magical being because it starts in a small inland stream and then travels, across the ocean, far to the west (if you live in north-western Europe) and perhaps to the location of the Summer Lands. It then returns older and wiser ready to start the next generation. 

In the Celtic tales, such as Culwch and Olwen, the Salmon is one of the oldest beings asked questions by the heroes.  In the Norse Volsungasaga the tale starts when Loki kills an Otter (Ottar) eating a Salmon. Except it’s a Dwarf/Jotun who could shape change into an Otter. Loki then has to pay a weregild for the killing. Later on Loki becomes a Salmon himself when attempting to escape the wrath of the other Gods.

Funnily enough down here in Sussex we don't have Salmon but do have the Salmon-trout which is a Brown trout that spawns and spends it's youth in the freshwater rivers, when it matures it migrates down to the estuary and then spends most of it's time living in the sea. Sometimes they migrate far upstream during the winter floods and then get trapped in pools, the wider stretches of the stream as the floods subside.  I was reflecting on this as I passed some of our local Hazel trees that are laden with nuts.
As with all of the Celtic stories the allegory seems very obscure and tenuous but there is also the thought that the reason why the Druids were against writing their esoteric knowledge down was to encourage each generation to hunt for wisdom, knowledge and truth. That way it remains alive and reflects the needs of each generation and does not become Dogma from being written down.

Friday 18 July 2014

Kite flying

There is a constant depressing message of the nature that we are losing...
but little on the success stories.  One of these is the Kite:

I first saw a Kite at dusk, after a long day MTBing, in a little graveyard near Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales over 20 years ago.    At the time I did not know it was one of these marvellous raptors  - I thought it was a beautiful carving on a headstone.  It was only the next day when I passed the same graveyard and the bird was gone that the excitement hit...  I'd seen a Red Kite!    At that time this was the only place you could see them, there were only a handful of breeding pairs in the UK.  They had almost been hunted to extinction on this island.

Move forward to this summer and I am sat in my back garden and look up to see one drifting over my house in the Low Weald of Sussex.  Then I saw two whilst out MTBing near Amberley on the Downs followed by many whilst driving up the M40 to Oxford.

The dedication of the various groups who have protected and re-introduced this marvellous bird have provided this success story for the Kite.   So that it can now be seen across the UK.  Image from here. My ride that day across the Downs brought a little bit of Awen...

Thermal drifting,
Windward drafting,
Lazily floating,
The kites hang high.

Wild recursive wings
Impossibly hang
Sickle tail drifts
The kites float by.

No string to anchor
Or gravity suck
A pair free floating
The kites hang high.

Loping along hedgerow the hare stops, stares
At high hanging raptors.  Flicks black tipped ears
And races dusty trackways back to his field of cares.


Friday 20 June 2014

Hymn to Sol or Sunna at Litha or Alban Hefin the Summer Solstice

Taken from http://www.pinterest.com/pin/337699672030798190/


Hymn to Sol
(inspired by Rig-Veda Book 1 Hymn to Surya)

Your bright beams, aloft are born
fairest of face, the bright fulgor;
Grace-shine the bringer of beauty.
Across Ymir's day-nascent skull -
Your rays herald like hunting horns
So refulgant from afar.
Beacons that burn and blaze.
Swift and sublime, you are Sunna
Maker of light, illuminator.

You brighten Gods, lighten all beings
traversing sky, bring day to birth
with brilliance your beams mark days
over the business of being.
Early To Wake and Very Quick
bear your wagon, the lovely wheel
across the sky, God-blithe Glen's wife.
All-Bright remove my hearts disease
with your all-conquering vigour.

Wassail Sunna with awen, awen, awen
 


Tuesday 17 June 2014

Round the Barrows

It was a hot sunny day and I was back amongst the Tumuli of my Sussex ancestors at the Barrow Cemetary at Sullington Warren. I was working with the National Trust to keep this as heathland against the encroaching woodland. The morning was hard graft with a mattock which is like a pickaxe but with a broader, flattened adze like edge. I was removing young trees from one of the Round Barrows, they were mostly Oak with some Rowan and other trees such as Holly and Buckthorn. I was working on the dry part of the heathland sitting on the Greensand ridge.
The Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification says "This area of scrub supports a varied invertebrate fauna, and two invertebrate groups well represented here are the Aculeate Hymenoptera (bees, ants. and wasps) and Coleoptera (beetles). Of particular interest is a locally uncommon beetle Apion fuscirostre which lives specifically on broom and has been recorded at this site."
It felt strange, as a Druid, to be killing young Oak trees and yet without this work a rare natural habitat for heathland flora and fauna would be lost. It felt right as a Gewessi to be clearing the burial mounds of our Pagan ancestors with hard graft. For a, normally office bound, middle-age modern Pagan swinging a mattock in beautiful Sussex sunshine was a mix of the beauty of Vanaheim and the heat of Muspelheim Applying a little Logos to the situation there is an area for the Oak and deciduous trees on the site, which is protected as well as an area for Pine. The aim with this work is to retain the balance between Oak, Pine and Heathland on the site so that it can provide benefit to all. Here's the barrow we cleared:
The afternoon was then spent in the wet more boggy heathland nearer the Pines - removing the young pine trees attempting to take over. Here the humidity and dead heather made it a different kind of hard, scratchy work. We made in impression on both sites helping the wardens to manage the sites. The heather is dead, above the ground it has been killed by Heather Beetle. What the heathland needs now is a good fire to cleanse it BUT with a small nature reserve surrounded by houses a controlled burn is not an option the heather needs to be managed in another way, by people. Which all reminds me of the Rush song...
"The Trees"

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw.

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Island mentality and Wabi Sabi

Watching Chelsea Flower Show and the gorgeous Togenkyo, A Paradise on Earth, garden reminds me of the similarities that living on an island, or archipelago, brings. There is a similarity between "the fable of Togenkyo, a place of beautiful scenery that can help people to forget their troubles and strife, but that once visited cannot be revisited" and many of the Celtic stories of people visiting the Summerlands and the otherworldly people who dwell there.
Which brings me to the English Garden and Gertrude Jekyll. I think she would have approved of the Zen philosophy of Wabi Sabi. I was at a garden plant swap / sale this weekend where the garden seemed to fulfil the Wabi Sabi principles.

The principles seem also very Druidic to me. On care.com I once found this as a summary of the principles involved:

Zen’s seven ruling principles

  • Asymmetry (Fukinsei): Stiff, formal symmetry, suggesting frozen finality and artificial perfection, can be fatal to the imagination. Asymmetry lets us be loose and spontaneous—more human than godlike. It means we can get by with one—or three—candlesticks, and all the china doesn’t have to match.
  • Simplicity (Kanos): Zen eschews gaudy, ornate, the over embellished in favour of sparse, fresh, and neat. It’s the triumph of craftsman style over the cluttered Victorian parlour.
  • Austerity (Koko): Zen asks us to reduce everything to “the pith of essence.” Don’t love it? Can’t find a use for it? Let it go.
  • Naturalness (Shizen): Zen is artless, without pretence or self-consciousness. It is bare wood, unpolished stone, and flowers from the backyard.
  • Subtle Profundity (Yugen): Within Zen lies a deep reserve, a mysterious, shadowy darkness. The hint of soft moonlight through a skylight would be yugen.
  • Freedom from Worldly Attachments (Datsuzoku): The Buddha taught us not to be bound to life, things, or rules. “It is not a strong bond, say the wise, that is made of iron, wood, or hemp,” he said. “Far greater an attachment than that is the longing for jewels and ornaments, children and wives.” It’s the simplicity movement, not keeping up with the Joneses.
  • Silence (Sejaku): Inwardly oriented, Zen embraces the quiet calm of dawn, dusk, late autumn, and early spring.

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Beltaine Need Fire

It was a fine day, a strong day, a bright day and sat atop one of the Neolithic dykes where I could call the quarters and re-affirm my commitment to the Gewessi path atop Wolstonbury hill. As ever a guilty voice of negativity arose that I should be at the Anderida Grove's open ceremony by the Long Man. My Gewessi voice suppressed it with the need-fire rule...

Need Fire Rule

Prioritise what is needful - each action causes an effect. In this case my needful tasks were to trim the hedges, mow the lawn, prune the ivy and virginia creeper. Tasks delayed through procrastination, weather and illness during the Eostre part of the year. To attend the Anderida Grove's ceremony would have taken a day out of this long weekend. The needful tasks would not have been done, which would have caused stress and had a negative affect. I did the needful tasks which allowed time for this excellent ride and time on Wolstonbury. So once the heavy lifting of those big tasks are complete there was time for a bit of weeding and pottering...

A weed is just a plant in the wrong place

As I sat in the garden thinking about the relationships in my life I realised that this relationship with the garden is one of my more important ones. It has taught me to work with nature and thus influenced my gardening style. My wife commented about how when I started in this garden I used to put things in a regimented style but now manage to plant bulbs much more naturally. In addition much of the garden is now full of plants that started off as weeds but are now in a place pleasing to the eye, well I think so! In addition, now we're down to one old cat, the wildlife has come out. We had a blackbird nest by our lounge window. I think this was a second generation Hen who 'knows' us or rather knows we're not a threat. The birds were funny about us watching them go to the nest but were not flustered by our being outside, in the garden. The three chicks have now flown and I am constantly finding them around the garden as they mature from fledglings into adult blackbirds.

The Wrens and Robins are nesting in the garden also, whilst the Slow Worms in the compost are doing well too. Even the volume of midges that sucked the blood out of my exposed calves (owwwww the itching!) indicate a garden full of wildlife. Which makes me happy and that is what I see as the purpose for this modern small garden, it as a natural oasis and refuge from the stresses of this world. I strive for a balance between my interference to create areas of aesthetic interest, the needs of the wildlife in it and the desire of certain plants to dominate the whole garden.

Wednesday 30 April 2014

Eostre - is this a pattern?

So this celebration of the the outward rejuvenation of the land occurred just as I was getting 'flu. Another year with no cycle ride up Wolstonbury Hill to avow my commitment on the Gewessi path, although this time the conditions were good it was just me who wasn't. A week of getting ill, one week really being ill and another week recovering with no energy. During that recovery week, my Eostre holiday just putting two posts in the garden exhausted me! This left everything else behind, as my holiday goals were to get the garden in order. The remaining three weeks of Eostre have been spent just catching up.

My first MTB ride was a great reminiscent ride over to Houghton Forest with my friend. A route that revisits the Yew that helped push me onto this path. It was good to see it still standing in the forest. Our 'traditional' circuit I've not ridden for a few years now and the memory of the route has faded in certain places. Fortunately between my friend and I we corrected each other's mistakes. As we struggled up the impossible climb at Droke it struck me that we've been riding these trails over in West Sussex for over 20 years now, building a relationship with landscape and a knowledge of its ways. The memories of previous experiences and youthful vigour along with the comparison of where we are now were interesting. Part of the ride's aim was to see the bluebells in the forest above Upwaltham, sadly they've never recovered from the logging / clearance a few years ago. However, their blue carpet and heady Hyacinth scent have been spectacular for my commute to work. At Upwaltham we took time to remember the tragic last flight of Lancaster DV382

Eostre was a transitional period as ever from the winter to summer. On the plus side it has been the season when the Narcissi bulbs I planted in the front garden have popped up. To some the garden will look messy but in this part of the year I wanted it to look like a pretty naturalistic woodland glade with spring flowers in amongst the shrubs. There's still some work to go this autumn in achieving this affect.

However, Eostre has it's compensations in the Hot Cross Buns from my local baker:

Friday 14 March 2014

Blackthorn bloom

Brilliant White blossoms crown
pauper hedges in albino down,
warm returns,
winter's strafe is done.
This bridal hedgerow conception
in anticipation of autumn's sun,
fruit cycle,
of round, deep blue sloes.
The bloom belies the black thorn's woes;
strife and straif
of the shillelagh storms
and Lepidoptera worms.
But now the Northern Cherry shines
and brightens Albion's climes.

Scrub Bashing

Scrub Bashing - a Pagan Morality Tale

Should a pagan feel guilty about chopping baby trees? I've seen some people's views that man shouldn't 'mess' with nature. It was something I was pondering as I hacked down the scrubland of Ash, brambles and Whitethorn and various other scrub plants on the South Downs. It was one of my employers charity days where we get the opportunity to spend a day out of the office working for a charity. This was for the National Trust on Newtimber Hill.

The question of why we were clearing the scrub, opening it up for pasture to allow the cattle and sheep to graze the land was soon answered. The real reason was the ants... yes ants! As you walk over this downland you find various tussocks across the landscape. These tussocks on chalk downland are often ant nests and they form a little micro-climate around them. This micro-climate allows a variety of rare downland flowers to thrive, including the Horshoe Vetch. However, of equal significance is the interesting symbiotic relationship between these ants and the Chalkhill Blue butterfly (Polyommatus coridon). The Chalkhill Blue lays it's eggs near it's food plant on the ant tussocks. The ants, so I'm told, then gather the eggs and take them deep into their nest to look after them. When the caterpillar hatches the ants feed the caterpillars and harvest secretions they give out, the caterpillar also produces secretions that the ants like when it pupates. The Chalkhill Blue is a key Ancient Chalk Grassland species and symbol of the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Ancient Chalk Grassland is also a very bio-diverse habitat.

The land that we bashed scrub on, it's hard work on a steep hill but we managed to clear all this:

Ancient Chalk Grasslands and their ant's are important. What happens when the land is not managed is that shrubs and trees invade shading out the flowers and ant's nests. The habitat is destroyed, an ancient habitat that's been the environment on this landscape for thousands of years. They were around since the Bronze Age and were most probably created during the Neolithic. This would place the age of the Grassland on Newtimber at a minimum of 4,500 years, probably older. The last Ice Age ended around 9,000 years ago which means that the Ancient Chalk Grassland has been the predominant environment in this landscape. An eco-system that humans have been an integral part of maintaining through their management of livestock, cattle and sheep. In this respect it is our eco-responsibility to maintain that environment and ensure its sustainability.

Which brings me to Vegetarianism and whether it is eco-responsible or not. To maintain Ancient Chalk Grassland it requires livestock, sheep and cattle. The type of sheep and cattle that thrive in this environment can be typified by the South Down sheep, these are raised for their wool and their meat. Their wool is not prolific enough or fine enough for the sheep to be considered solely for wool production. Their meat, however, is very good. In this respect to maintain the eco-system it is necessary to eat some meat, as it is a by-product of maintaining the eco-system. So as long as you know the provenance of the meat you buy, fortunately my local butcher specialises in meat from local farms, eating meat a few times a week is the eco-responsible thing to do. The argument that veggies often come out with is that there is enough land to feed everyone if they were vegetarians. Their argument has two main assumptions:

  • that all agricultural land is suitable for arable crops
  • that the land can be intesively farmed
Which are both flawed from an ecosophical point of view. Not all agricultural land is arable, a large proportion is only suitable for raising livestock which means eating meat. To intensively farm arable land you require high volumes of fertiliser which is not environmentally friendly. The argument is a typical 'one size fit's all' solution that does not fit into the way the world is. In reality each person needs to understand their locality and choose a combination of vegetables, meat, dairy and fish in their diet that has the least possible environmental impact. Of course this needs balancing with my Gewessi rule of ALBOWUF :-)
But I didn't mean for this scrub bashing to become veggie bashing! I have no problem with vegetarians, I have issues with vegetarians who take the moral high ground for the reasons above. If someone doesn't like or want to eat meat then that is fine with me. I'll stick to a bit of Minty Lamb Chop from a South Down sheep sourced, via my butcher, from a local Downland farm.

Friday 21 February 2014

Hidden gems

The car drivers, in derogative cyclist's terminology known as 'cagers', driving north from Brighton on the A23 don't realise that within a stone's throw of their headlong rush there is a beautiful haven of Imbolc beauty. For only a couple of weeks a year does it wear this gown before returning to it's guise as an unremarkable copse of the ancient Anderida forest.

Thursday 13 February 2014

Hraesvelgr, Olvaldi and his sons

Olvaldi is the father of Thjazi, father of Skadi the Ice Giantess, Iði and Gangr who are all storm giants. Hraesvelgr is a giant, in the form of an eagle, who sits at the top of the world and causes the winds to blow when he beats his wings. In the cauldron of my Gewessi thoughts I see Hraesvelgr as controlling the jet streams. It is the jet stream that modern Logos has discovers controls the winds and thus the weather around the world. So why are these Jotun's in my thoughts?

Because the Ents, Giants or Jotun's personify the natural forces that are outside of human control and Hraesvelgr and Olvaldi's sons apply specifically to winter in North Western Europe. If the Eagle beats his wings one way then the Jet Stream moves allowing Thjazi, or rather Thjazi's daughter to control the period from Yule to Eostre. As happened in 2013 when we were plunged into a very cold period of ice and snow.

Hraesvelgr beat his wings another way this winter and instead we have been at the mercy of Iði and Gangr who have wrought storm after storm over us causing floods and havoc. They started just at Yule, although the Christian / St.Jude storm was a precursor before Samhuin, and have continued through to Imbolc. It brings to mind the Anglo Saxon Riddle (answer storm):

Sometimes my lord corners me;
then He imprisons all that I am
under fertile fields - He frustrates me,
condemns me in my might to darkness,
casts me into a cave where my warden, earth,
sits on my back. I cannot break out
of that dungeon, but I shake halls
and houses; the gabled homes of men
tremble and totter; walls quake,
then overhang. Air floats above earth,
and the face of the ocean seems still
until I burst out from my cramped cell
at my Lord's bidding, He who in anger
buried me before, so shackled me that I
could not escape my Guardian, my Guide.

Sometimes I swoop to whip up waves, rouse
the water, drive the flint-grey rollers
to the shore. Spumming crests crash
against the cliff, dark precipice looming
over deep water; a second tide,
a sombre flood, follows the first;
together they fret against the sheer face,
the rocky coast. Then the ship is filled
with the yells of sailors; the cliffs quietly
abide the ocean's froth and fury,
lashing waves, racing rollers
that smash against stone. The ship must face
a savage battle, a bitter struggle,
if the sea so buffets it and its cargo
if souls that it is no longer under control
but, fighting for life, rides foaming
on the spines of breakers. There men see
the terror I must obey when I bluster
on my way. Who shall restrain it?

At times I rush through the dark clouds
that ride me, churn the sea into a frenzy,
then afterwards let the waters subside.
When one cloud collides with another,
edge against sharp edge, the din
of destruction, a mighty noise, echoes
above the dwellings of men; dark bodies,
hastening, breathe fire overhead,
flashing lightning; thunderous crashes
shake the sky, then growl darkly.

The clouds do combat, dark drops
fall, rustling rain from their wombs.
A fear-tide flows in the hearts of men,
a growing terror - strongholds succumb
to dread - when that ghastly troop goes
on the rampage, and shrithing evil spirits,
spurting flames, shoot sharp weapons.

A fool is unafraid of the death-spears,
but for all that he will die
if the true Lord lets fly the arrow,
a whistling weapon, straight through rain
from the whirlwind above. Few men
survive if they are struck by lightning.

I am the origin of all that strife,
when I rush through the concourse of clouds,
surge forward with great strength, and fly
over the face of the water. Troops on high
clash noisily; then afterwards,
under cover of night, I sink to earth,
and carry off some burden on my back,
renewed once more by my Lord's power.

I am a mighty servant: sometimes
I fight, sometimes wait under the earth;
at times I swoop and sink under water,
at times whip up waves from above;
sometimes I stir up trouble
amongst scudding clouds; swift and savage,
I travel widely. Tell me my name,
and Who it is rouses me from my rest,
or Who restrains me when I remain silent.

Friday 24 January 2014

Monozukuri: Literally mono= 'thing' and zukuri (tsukuru) 'process of making';

A beautiful concept

I have recently had a lovely weekend course making a stool at the Windsor Workshop , done using the same traditional wheelwright techniques used to make Windsor Chairs. It has reminded me of the Japanese concept of Monozukuri, the process of making or creating things. The Windsor Workshop seems to be following monozukuri. The stools we produced were his improved stools in the nature of their design and build.

The literal translation in the title does not convey the real connotation of monozukuri. The word has a more intense meaning; monozukuri is about having a state of mind, the spirit to produce not only excellent products but also to have the ability to constantly improve the production system and its processes.

Professor Takahiro Fujimoto (Manufacturing Management Research Center, University of Tokyo) has defined monozukuri as “the duplication of design data into a material.” or the "art, science and craft of making things." The Japanese Institute for Trade and Organisation (JETRO) describes monozukuri as: ‘having the spirit of producing excellent products and the ability to constantly improve a production system and -process.’

From the linguistic point of view it is interesting to note that the syllabic writing Japanese ( hiragana ) allows a duality of interpretation that extends the semantic sphere of the term. In fact, the first part of "mono" (もの) can find phonetic correspondence with the ideogram 者 (= person) and imply that the 造り zukuri (づくり) includes people and things. To distinguish with accuracy the two possible meanings, the word also came hitozukuri , transliterated from Japanese 人づくり. In this new entry, the first graphical symbol is in fact the character 人 = ひと · hito = person.

Albeit partially, this aspect of indefiniteness and versatility can be traced back to the matrix of Shinto religious culture in Japan. It provides for a fundamental gratitude to every creature and item in creation, which is given special attention. In this sense, it is right to understand that "monozukuri" denotes a philosophy and a "spirit of intent" not closely denoted by the edges, rather a commitment to a specific and limited physical correspondent relationship. It implies a tangential view of each object (material, equipment and systems, components and finished product) which reaches out to "take care" of what you have available . Hence being careful not to waste and also to pursue continuous improvement ( kaizen ) in all daily operations, management and organization. This vision has resulted in industrial management developing methodologies and techniques that aim at efficiency, increasing productivity and quality, reduce costs and, in general, focus on the elimination of waste ( muda ). These were born from the culture of monozukuri management. These systems are universally known of, e.g. the Toyota Production System and "lean thinking" or Lean Six Sigma.

The old British philosophical equivalents to Kaisen and Monozukuri would be around "Waste Not, Want Not" and "If you're going to do something, do it properly." In my professional life Process Improvement is what led me to these concepts and subsequently to their wider philosophical meanings. Now I've had the chance to apply them to a physical 'thing'.

Spiritual Progress

Is Spiritual Progress, or a seeming lack of, important?

Yes it's a tricky one, how to use my time? Do I sacrifice physical well being (cycling), our family environment (gardening), family time itself or money and lifestyle (work) for dedication to a spiritual path? Obviously, family comes first then work (to an extent - but being mindful of the work / life balance) which leaves personal time fairly short. This personal time has to be split into physical well being which for me is cycling, environmental well being which is the garden and spiritual well being (Gewessi) which is a mix of Druidic and Heathen work.

My spiritual work is broken down into:
small regular practice - meditation around 3 times per week usually in the bath after cycling, monitoring of the forums I look after on the OBOD forum website
more detailed ritual - the 8 fold year Blot's recorded on this Gewessi blog
wider themes - such as the Druid Ovate work which has to fit in around other things - practically this means that I only progress this work over the winter as in the summer gardening and cycling fill my personal time.

For me the Gewessi worldview is that spirituality should enhance your life and relationships (this is key for me) and also be integrated into your daily life. So each mountain bike ride into Nature is in itself part of my spiritual engagement or Gework with the land where I live, gardening is part of my Druidic practice and the herb work informs my Ovate studies.
Even things like waiting to pick the kids up (from school, clubs etc...) can be a 10 minute downtime to compose a little bit of Bardic poetry or meditate on the natural world around me.
So have I completed my Ovate work as quickly as I'd like? At 5 years plus now that's a no...,
Do I write to my OBOD tutor as often as I feel I should?.. no,
Are my rituals as elaborate and significant as I would like...no
Does this really matter? Probably not; as long as Gewessi is enhancing my life & relationships (including that with the land), making me more balanced as a person and through this I am reducing my family's impact on the planet and current eco-systems. The Gods, Land-Alfs and Ancestors know that I remember, honour and respect them and I feel that this is sufficient, they do not demand more.

Gewessi is a path for living life not subsuming it into a religious fervour

Óg's Eye


A dream is soft skinned
nebulous, fragile.
An irregular egg, serpentile.
A soft sack with a precious cargo,
needing a mother's care;
the correct heat,
a regular beat,
attentive endeavour.
An incubatory treasure
ready to release into the world;
see your created thing.

Friday 3 January 2014

Meditation - Visualisations and Reality

Here's a brief synopsis around types of meditation, although the author is biased as the article promotes the heart meditation over the other types... Types of Meditation.
Within Druidry the usual type of meditation is a form of Guided Visualisation with a western mystical focus, typically a type of Kundalini meditation on the light body or internal cauldrons, see Erynn's excellent text on the Cauldrons of Poesy, which precedes the Guided Visualisation and enables the practitioner to settle into their meditatory context before the Visualisation.
During a self-guided visualisation meditation the question arises around one's experiences within the visualisation - do they come via a connection to some 'Otherworld' or are they just made up imaginings from the brain? Usually there is a tone of the sarcastic modern atheistic sub-text or rationale that it's all just from a fevered imagination and thus without relevance or importance to the person or the 'real world'. Given that our experiences within the Guided Visualisation may well include advice and guidance for the 'real world' from beings met within the 'otherworld' the question of it's importance and reality do need to be addressed.

This understanding of the inner meditatory world fits into the grey area, I believe, of the transrational. One of the things that I like about Druidry is the lack of a defined position on this. Each Druid has to reconcile their Druidic transrational experiences for their self which leads to the 'herding cats' approach to Druidic dogma, no two Druids will agree as each Druid has reconciled and understood their inner world themself without the intervention of some priest to tell them what to think.
So does my brain just put an imagined experience into the meditation? Are the spirits real and is the otherworld really there? Does it matter?
These are big questions and maybe breaking them down into bits will help:

  1. What do we mean by 'brain'? Brain could mean the conscious, subconscious or the physical grey stuff. I think it means our whole being, our physical and non-physical self, in this context
  2. Then there's 'put' - even if we take the atheistic worldview you could view it as 'access' rather than 'put'. 'Put' implies a conscious act of creating something without a basis in the real world, however, I think that 'access' is closer and suggests that it's from the subconscious which has a basis in a real world that our conscious can't get to
  3. And also 'spirit' - which is a definition that can be argued about incessantly. For me I think that spirits are energies or patterns that bubble up from within our subconscious. I do not know how they get into the subsconscious
  4. Finally 'does it matter' - I think it's part of the Druidic experience to come across these transrational questions and to try and find a reconciliation that satisfies you. Personally I think it is important and that yes it does matter. It is how we access a deep and ancient wisdom via a subconscious mechanism. How that subconscious mechanism works I do not know - it could be linking deeply held genetic patterns or some Akashic record or there really could be an otherworld or higher plane that is accessed
For me these 4 questions are the big areas of Druidic / spiritual work. I wrestled with them through the whole Bardic work and they form (for me) the part of 'working it out for yourself' that is important to the Western Mystery Tradition as opposed to the revealed dogma, interpreted by priests, of the big 3 religions.