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" One touch of nature

makes all the world kin "

William Shakespeare

The Queen Mum & The Spring Equinox

March 20th, 2008

Today at 5.18 am it was the Spring Equinox, and I was asked to come on to Channel 4’s Paul O’Grady Show broadcast today, to talk about this. They said they would put weblinks up on the show’s website so it’s possible that a viewer has found their way here. If so, hello!

On the show I mentioned that the Queen Mother was a Druid, as well as Winston Churchill. Afterwards in the Green Room, a chap with the extraordinary name of Bear Grylls said “Surely not – you must be joking!” So I thought I’d post a note about this here:

There are three types of Druid: cultural, fraternal and spiritual.

Cultural Druids promote the Welsh language (and Cornish and Breton) through events known as Eisteddfoddau. The Welsh Eisteddfod, which is an arts festival in Welsh, is under royal patronage, and is known as ‘The Royal National Eisteddfod’. Druids of this kind include the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, former Welsh secretary Ron Davies, Robert Croft, the Glamorgan and England cricketer, the opera singer Bryn Terfel, and the Queen Mum. See a brief article on this in the Daily Telegraph or a more detailed article at the Druid Network’s site.

Fraternal Druids engage in primarily social and charitable activities, and are like Rotarians or Masons. Winston Churchill was one of these. Here is a famous photograph of him (note the false beards and his rather folorn expression!). A prize for the caption?! Something like “Oh crikey what have I got myself into here?” American conspiracy theorists lay great store by this picture – suggesting this proves Churchill was part of some dastardly secret sect – poor fools, they don’t understand British eccentricity at its best.

winstondruid.jpg

Spiritual Druids are interested in Druidry as a spiritual path. They are inspired by the rich heritage of folklore and tradition that comes from the Druid source-lands of these islands and western Europe. More information on them can be found here.

During the interview Paul O’Grady said “William Blake was a Druid wasn’t he?” I said yes, and then in a flash the interview was over, but in fact it’s a bit more complicated than that, and I couldn’t even begin to go into this on air. Many people think he was, he wrote about the Druids a great deal, and he has been adopted as a ‘hero-figure’ by much of the modern Druid movement. My teacher, the old Chief Druid Ross Nichols, believed Blake was a Druid, based on the story that when he was hauled up at Chichester assizes on charges of attempting to persuade a soldier to leave the army, he refused to swear on the Bible, saying he was a Druid. It now seems this is not true – recently the historian Ronald Hutton has examined the records of the assizes and there is no record of Blake saying this. So if we look at the historical record there is nothing in it to say he was one, although you never know of course…

Chatting to Paul was great fun. He’s a lovely man and behind the scenes it was a hoot. He was cradling a lamb and feeding it with a bottle while his dog jumped around wanting to join in. Just before walking on stage the lamb peed on him but he carried on. In an interview like that (which lasted just a few minutes) you can’t possibly say everything you want to say, and I didn’t get to fit in my last bit, which I’ll post here instead:

Why is Druidry so popular today?
I think people are drawn to Druidry because they see it as a spiritual approach that isn’t bogged down with dogma, and they see that we have fun – we’re not into being pious.They also know that we’re making a mess of the Earth. Most people know about climate change, but it’s not just that: one-fifth of all living species could disappear within the next 30 years. So we need philosophies and spiritualities that are ecological, that help us to respect the earth.

So there – I’ve said it now! Happy Equinox!

The Curriculum of Thirteen Moons

March 12th, 2008

Here is an essay based on talks I have given at the Pagan Federation’s conference in Cornwall and at the Lewes Well-Being Festival. Adapted versions of this will go up on the www.druidry.org website and elsewhere, but here it is in its first form.

THE THIRTEENTH WAY
The Oracular Use of Plants in Druidry

Working with plants in a sacred or magical way lies at the heart of indigenous spiritualities and earth religions. Many of us are drawn to these ‘Old Ways’ because they combine a sense of deep spirituality with a love for the Earth and Her creatures. Any sense we might have of being split between Spirit and Matter, Inner and Outer, the committed and the detached, even the mystical and the magical, can be healed when we work with solid, sensual beings – such as plants, animals and humans – in a sacred way.

Llyn Y Fan FachA rich heritage of plant lore exists in Merlin’s Isle, as Britain was once known, and we can trace this heritage at least as far back as the Bronze Age, which began here around 4,000 years ago. From the analysis of pollen grains we know that during this period people in the Orkneys, Scotland and Wales used Meadowsweet as a floral tribute at burial sites. Up above the dark brooding lake of Llyn y Fan Fach in Wales the cremated remains of a young girl’s bones have been found in a cairn, alongside traces of Meadowsweet pollen, pottery and flint tools. It is fitting that such a cairn should be there, for in this majestic barren landscape it presides over a lake that is renowned for being the site of the origin-story of the Physicians of Myddvai. According to this legend, out of the waters of Llyn Fan Fach came a mysterious and beautiful Lady of the Lake who taught the first of the Physicians about the healing power of plants. These Physicians of Myddvai appeared in the Middle Ages, and the last of their line died out in the 19th century, when the story of the Lady of the Lake was first recorded, but the fact that the ashes of a young girl were buried with Meadowsweet above this lake thousands of years before this time is inspiring – as if a gentle feminine spirit has always hovered over this landscape, bringing with her the gifts of healing and plant-lore that we can still draw upon today.

The Curriculum of 13 Moons

In exploring these gifts, and the wider heritage of plant-lore that exists throughout these islands, we can discern at least thirteen ways in which to work with plants in a sacred manner as we follow the ‘Old Ways’. In Druidry, many of these are traditionally the province of the Ovate, who might choose to devote a lunar month to each of these ways in turn, so that after a year they will have made a study of all thirteen ways, which they can then choose to deepen in whatever way they wish.

In The Druid Plant Oracle we have focused on just one of these thirteen ways to create a tool for the use of plant lore in an oracular way, but we have also tried to touch upon the other twelve uses of plants in ancient or contemporary Druidism, which I will summarise here, with just a few examples for each use:

1. The use of plants as food: food as sacred and life-sustaining – as a conveyor of the Druid life-force Nwyfre. Wheat has been used in a sacred way in a number of traditions: in the Eleusinian Mysteries, in Christianity, and in Druid and Pagan traditions at the harvest time of Lughnasadh. The Bean is another food with deep symbolic associations, this time to the Ancestors and the Otherworld. A study of the mythology attached to the pig in Celtic tradition, alongside a study of the Bean will reveal many similarities.

2. The use of plants in drinks, elixirs and tonics: just as ingesting plants as food in a ceremony can become a central feature, so can the ingesting of a sacred drink. In Druid rituals this is usually mead, often produced by bees feeding on Heather – a plant filled with associations to joy and community. But a variety of herbal elixirs, such as those made from Burdock and Dandelion, or Birch sap, enable the modern Druid to enhance their health and feel connected with the past while also honouring the stereotype perpetuated by the Asterix cartoons, of the magical elixir-quaffing sage.

3. The use of plants as clothing: modern Druids know how the use of clothes, and sometimes no clothes, can enhance the experience of ritual. Linen made from Flax was the main component of clothing for thousands of years – as it was of sail-cloth. As a result, the tiny seeds of Flax have helped us to build our civilisation, while plants like Woad and Weld were used by our ancestors to dye their cloth, and can be used by us to fashion our ritual clothing.

4. The use of plants for journeying in consciousness: the use of plants psychotropically to alter consciousness is well documented in many ancient and contemporary indigenous traditions. There is no evidence, however, of its use within ancient Celtic cultures or within Druidry, despite the prevalence of the Psilocybin mushroom commonly known as the Liberty Cap, and of Fly Agaric. There are some, though, who suggest that certain herbs, such as Mugwort, were smoked to stimulate psychic powers. Traces of Mugwort have been found on the drinking cup of the recently unearthed ‘Druid’ of the first century near Colchester, and it seems sensible that for health reasons the modern Druid should follow this example, drinking rather smoking Artemisia Vulgaris.

5. The medicinal use of plants: the history of herbalism is undoubtedly as old as the history of humanity. The classical writers only recorded the Druids’ use of four plants for magical and medicinal purposes: Mistletoe, Vervain, Selago – probably Fir Club Moss – and Samolus, possibly Water Pimpernel. But by correlating archaeobotanical records of the plants that grew at the time of the ancient Druids in their source-lands of western Europe, with the writings of contemporary herbalists such as Dioscorides, and the references to herbs in the old Celtic tales, we have been able to build a pretty good idea of the medicinal plants the ancient Druids would have used, such as Valerian – which is prized for its calming effect.

6. The use of plants for annointing: as an example, oils of primrose and vervain, mentioned in some of the old texts as being ingredients of Ceridwen’s brew, can be used to bless a Bard.

7. The use of plants in ritual: flowers are often used in Druid ceremonies and garlic is used in the Druid ritual of Samhain. Cloves are sprinkled across the threshold before inviting Spirits of the Departed into a house to partake of a ritual feast. Flower petals might be used to cast a circle at a festivity such as Beltane.

8. The use of plants in incense: in Druidry incense is often used to cleanse and perfume a working space or the aura. Agrimony and juniper berries are good for this purpose.

9. The use of plants in lustrations: ritual washing or laving, of the hands, face, body, altar, circle or tools can be enhanced with the addition of plants to the water being used. Again a good plant for this is Agrimony, known as Mur-druidhean, literally ‘the sorrow of the Druids’ but really meaning ‘the dispeller of sorrow used by the Druids’.

10. The use of plants in spells: Druids are cautious of spells, knowing the wisdom in the saying, ‘When the gods want to punish us, they answer our prayers.’ The ancient Druids did use spells, and contemporary Druids might sometimes too, having carefully considered the ethical and magical implications. In the old days, fern was used in spells for invisibility. A Druid today might still use fern if they were wishing to pass unnoticed through a hostile crowd for example.

Fern by Will Worthington

Fern by Will Worthington from The Druid Plant Oracle

11. The use of plants in charms and talismans: followers of the Old Ways are familiar with the idea of energy and vibrations. A plant will emanate a certain vibration, and if we carry some of this plant with us, perhaps as a piece of dried root in a pouch around our neck or in our pocket, it will exert a continuous influence on our aura – broadcasting its unique vibration into our energy field. Betony, one of those plants which has so many beneficial properties it became known as a ‘Cure-All’, was traditionally used in this way, as was Mandrake – a plant so renowned in ancient times it was almost certainly imported into Britain even in those earliest of days.

12. The use of plants as offerings: giving gifts seems innate to humankind. Part of being alive involves wanting to give – if only of our DNA to further the species, and so offering plants to a deity on an altar, or to a couple on marrying, or to a grave at a funeral seems the most natural thing in the world, and clearly our ancestors found Meadowsweet with its sweet almond-like scent an ideal plant of offering, as is Vervain – the Enchanter’s Plant, mentioned by Pliny as being one of the favoured plants of the Druids.

13. The oracular use of plants: while parts of some plants, such as the stalks of Yarrow (in the Celtic lands and in China) have been used as tools of divination, and while other plants, with psychotropic ingredients, have been used in attempts to access oracular powers of consciousness, The Druid Plant Oracle takes the traditional meanings associated with many of the plants that were likely to have been used by the ancient Druids, and translates them into contemporary terms – bearing in mind the sorts of issues we will be struggling with today.

We decided to create the oracle when we saw how much traditional plant lore there was, and how similar in feel it was to the traditional animal lore we had worked with when creating The Druid Animal Oracle. To create a plant oracle felt like a natural progression – and the completion of a thirteen year cycle in which we worked on three oracular systems: the plant and animal oracles and The DruidCraft Tarot.

What became increasingly clear to us as we developed these, was that oracles could either be used in an attempt to predict the future, or with the aim of trying to gain more insight so one could make informed choices. Just trying to see into the future, as if it is something inevitable – as if we are fated – disempowers us. But using oracles to look beneath the flow of surface events, to try to gain some insight into what is happening in our life, has the opposite effect – it empowers us to make decisions and actively shape our destiny. In this way these oracles become magical tools that help us create the future.

So that’s it! Magic as creativity and as a way of putting us in touch with the deeper currents of our life is why we have developed The Druid Plant Oracle. At the same time we hope it will inspire readers with an appreciation of the richness of the plant lore that exists in these islands, and that they will be encouraged to explore the thirteen ways of working with plants.
Philip Carr-Gomm

An old-fashioned idea

December 11th, 2007

More information just in proves how old-fashioned Stephanie, Will Worthington and I are. We held a book launch yesterday for The Druid Plant Oracle at Treadwell’s bookshop in London, and there’s a picture of it below. Reasonable enough you might say.

But no! It turns out that it’s desperately old-fashioned. We could have launched it at a party in the virtual world so that anyone, wherever they live, could come, as Kevan Manwaring will soon. Here’s his announcement:

The Sun Miners, my latest young adult fantasy novel, is being launched in the virtual reality otherworld Second Life, The Mystic Dome, Wed 19th December, 10pm GMT at www.secondlife.com I’ll talk about its ideas, its evolution, and read out a sample chapter before answering any questions. So create yourself a snazzy avatar and come and join the cyber-party – the weirdest fancy dress bash you could imagine… The venue is a beautiful healing space where talks and demonstrations are given.

Druid Plant Oracle book launch

Druids call for a return of the Sabbath

November 26th, 2007

Yesterday was a Sunday and yet all day we had a crew replacing telegraph poles outside our house and a fencer popped round to give us an estimate for a new fence. It suddenly struck me that 4 or 5 years ago this never would have happened – no-one would have done this kind of work on a Sunday.  I think it’s all part of the creeping invasion of our leisure time by work. I’ve read about the fact that in the USA people are working longer and longer hours just to  keep afloat – and I think it’s happening in Britain now too. Last week I talked to a woman who holds down three jobs, in the last year Stephanie and I have been working most evenings and weekends, and I’ve noticed that everyone is busier around us – there are less and less social engagements as our friends have less and less free time.

As part of broad social trends this is troubling – the Big Brother state observes us more and more, we work harder and harder – they both diminish our sense of freedom.

It’s about time there was a return to the Sabbath – when you could be prosecuted for selling an egg on a Sunday!

The Druid Plant Oracle

November 20th, 2007

Misteltoe by Will Worthington

This is an article that is appearing in Pagan Dawn magazine. Someone asked where they can buy this since it won’t be out in the USA until August 08 and Australia/NZ  April 08 (and in French, German, Dutch & Czech translations then too). Well you can buy it here (The OBOD bookstore) and it comes with a first edition card of black and white drawings by Will and signed by all three of us.

 

Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm’s The Druid Plant Oracle has just been published by Connections. In 1994 Connections published their Druid Animal Oracle and a decade later their DruidCraft Tarot appeared which soon became one of the most popular Pagan tarot decks due to Will Worthington’s extraordinary evocation of another world in his artwork and the way in which the authors’ weave Druid, Wiccan and Tarot lore seamlessly together. Here Philip Carr-Gomm talks about how the third in this trio of oracles was created.

 

Not of father nor of mother
Was my blood, was my body.

I was spellbound by Gwydion,
Prime enchanter of the Britons,
When he formed me from nine blossoms,
Nine buds of various kind;
From primrose of the mountain,
Broom, meadow-sweet and cockle,
Together intertwined,
From the bean in its shade bearing
A white spectral army
Of earth, of earthly kind,
From blossoms of the nettle,
Oak, thorn and bashful chestnut –
Nine powers of nine flowers,
Nine powers in me combined,
Nine buds of plant and tree.

Long and white are my fingers
As the ninth wave of the sea.

HANES BLODEUWEDD
translated by Robert Graves

I first became interested in the Druid path about forty years ago. I used to visit a friend of my father’s, the old Chief Druid Ross Nichols at his home in London and he began training me. He would make two cups of tea for us and then would read to me from a set of teachings he had prepared, and I remember so clearly how it was the sections on trees or plants that really inspired me. He was a poet and was able to write in a lyrical way about Nature. The scholarly failings of Robert Graves’ White Goddess had not yet been revealed and he had absorbed Graves’ work avidly, and had built upon that.

As the years rolled by, and I learnt more and more about the Druid tradition, I became disappointed that there was so little plant and herblore within the tradition. Scholars would point out that we only had Pliny’s references to four of the Druids’ favourite plants and that was it.

I was writing about one of these four – Vervain – for the revised version of the Order’s Ovate teachings when it suddenly struck me that perhaps, as with the traditional animal lore that Stephanie and I had researched 14 years ago for The Druid Animal Oracle, the plant lore of the ancient Druids and their contemporaries was not totally lost but simply had to be looked for in a different way.

We began researching traditional plant lore – and to our delight we started to feel that we were beginning to piece together much of the old herb-lore that would have been used in those far-off times. We did this by drawing on information from five sources: the relatively new science of archaeobotany; the information given in the old herbals that were written at the time of the ancient Druids; accounts of the practices of later herbalists; the clues left to us in the old Irish and Welsh legends and in folklore; and the findings of botanical pharmacology.

In other words, if we found that a plant had been growing in the territory of the ancient Druids, and if its healing powers had been discussed in one of the old herbals that were written by their contemporaries (such as Dioscorides) we deduced that it was highly likely that the Druids would have used it. If, in addition, the plant was mentioned in one of the old legends and if it appeared in folklore then it was clearly entrenched in tradition and was even more likely to have been used by the ancient Druids. The other sources of information were sometimes able to help us too with supporting evidence.

By researching in this way we identified over 40 plants that we reckon were almost certainly used in those far-off times. Now, of course, it is perfectly possible to argue that Druidry is a living tradition and that if – for example – a Druid wishes to use or recommend the taking of Gingko Bilboa then the fact that the ancient Druids would not have used this is irrelevant. Even so, while fully accepting that Druid herblore today can be as eclectic and universal as it likes, the fact that we can identify those plants they are likely to have used inspires us, and we took that inspiration one stage further. We realised that each plant had a set of traditional associations, meanings or stories surrounding it. Just as there was a discernible body of sacred animal lore so too there was a similar body of lore around plants.

When we read the old stories about plants or animals we couldn’t help asking the questions “What do these stories mean? What are they trying to tell us?” ‘They’ are both the stories themselves and the Ancestors, who collectively have created this ‘lore’ over the centuries. By putting the stories, the images, the associations into the cauldron and stirring it a little we have been able to come up with oracular interpretations for a number of plants, just as we did earlier for the animals, and Will Worthington has managed to create beautiful pictures of them to accompany our interpretations.

As we began creating the oracle together we realised that we could ask the publisher to make the cards the identical size to The Druid Animal Oracle so that the two decks could be shuffled together, so that guidance could be received from both the plant and the animal realms.

The result? Will seems to be able evoke an enchanted world in his paintings – the images are on the one hand very realistic and yet something shines through them and invites us into them. The images are filled with resonances – moonlight glinting on arrow-heads, standing stones in the distance. We think they’re wonderful. As for the accompanying book it would be immodest to wax lyrical about that wouldn’t it?

Opera and the Religious Experience

October 6th, 2007

Last night I saw Verdi’s Macbeth at Glyndebourne. Fabulous music, fabulous singing, horrendous set (a white polystyrene castle with tourquoise mortar!). The set – even though dreadful – was however painted superbly!

I almost had a religious experience but for the little aesthete who lives beside my left ear (wearing a bow tie and big glasses) who kept talking to me about the proper use of tourquoise. Read more