Where Does One Begin?
Searles

Tue Aug 11 14:23:59 1998
I am often asked for information about how to start on the Druid's pathway.  This advice is so often sought that I thought we could discuss the matter here to perfect an information page for those who are seeking. We could post this page in the public areas of the Crossroads so that our visitors might be better prepared for their own journeys.  I look forward to our discussion on this matter and especially to your own ideas. Here is the content of a reply that I recently made to such a seeker:*p*Hello XXXXXX,*p*"The Elements of the Druid Tradition" is not a bad place to start in learning about the ways of Druids.  Philip Carr-Gomm is a person who has long walked the ways of the wise. I have several of his books and have read them more than once.  *p*Without knowing what it is that you seek in studying the ways of Druids, it will be difficult to give you specific advice.  I can give you some general advice that has served me well in the past. *p*In any seeking of wisdom, I would recommend to you that you first seek knowledge of yourself and a connection to Nature that surrounds you.  This means putting away (for a brief period each day) all of the extraneous influences that the artificial world uses to distract us.  Meditate and clear your mind from all externally generated thoughts.  Just let yourself float within your own consciousness.  After you have mastered this state of relaxation and meditation, you can use it for focusing on the lessons that you will learn in your quest for wisdom.  *p*One of the first lessons will be to learn to pay attention to things. That's not as simple as it seems, because we generally on see part of anything.  What I am asking you to do is to see *all* of an object or a concept.  When you are a Druid, that is what will be expected of you, so it is best to learn how to do this at the beginning.  After you have really *looked* at something totally, go to your place of meditation and reconstruct it using your consciousness only.  When you can completely do this, you will have mastered the skills of focus, harmony and unity.  Your greater awareness will also allow you to construct a memory that does not forget what it has seen and learned. Using such tools will allow you the ability to journey further down the rode that you have chosen to travel.*p*The abilities to meditate and pay attention will allow you to take journeys of the spirit.  The ability to remember and to focus your mind will allow you to better select those places that you will go.  Your mastery of your own inner self will better equip you to handle the reactions that you will experience to the other beings that you will encounter along the way.  Each journey, encounter and lesson, will become the building blocks of your education.  *p*The self is the first area to master, then the spirit and after that the soul.  When you are fully integrated within these three aspects of yourself, then will be the time when you can better assist in the creation of worlds and the preservation of others.*p**br*Might I recommend The Summerlands website to you as a place that you can share and discuss your own experience with others of the same kith and kindred?  It is located at http://www.summerlands.com and has a Druid, a Bardic and a Celtic section where you will be able to learn from the lives and experiences of others.*p*Is mise le meas,*p*Searles*br*