Morning Omens – 1/31/17

Sigh. I don’t really even want to elaborate on this one. 

Swan is a beautiful creature who floats on the water, faithful to the heart of another. Their place between sea and sky fills them with the wisdom of the ancestors and the word of the Gods. Their beauty and bond truly inspirational.

Seeing Swan inverted speaks greatly to an awareness of heartbreak and separation. I pray it speaks more of what I know and not of what may come, for there is one close to me in a bad place. I feel helpless and can only hope my kind words and warm prayer do enough to hold them up through this trial.

Meeting Brighid & Morning Omens – 1/30/17

The last ten hours or so have been full of intense, intimate magic. While I did not dream (at least not that I can recall) I did have a surprisingly long and powerful home ritual last night before I went to bed. I think I will take the time to detail the vision in another post but, in short, I met Brighid. I was in my mental grove, the woods by the creek, and when She arrived She was forging an ever shifting tool on Her anvil. She sang a poem as she did so and as I tried to discern the words I felt myself drawn deeper and deeper away from my anchor. It was as if I was a fish chasing a lure, blind to how far I was swimming. I was just… Falling. I was simply entranced.

When I found my feet again, as it were, we were together and alone on top of a great tower or platform high amongst the mountaintops. It was there I asked for her to grant me sight through the runes. She struck her hammer three times and with each ringing of the anvil I drew a rune.

Gebo. Fehu. Mannaz. Prepare to recieve blessings and share them with those around you.

So yeah. That happened. It was beautiful and I will surely never forget it. That gorgeous encounter with Her goes ever on to the mantle of my heart. Also Her poem at the anvil ended up swallowing about an hour of my evening. I of course bear no I’ll feelings at all towards this. If anything I am extremely honored that She would offer me Her presence for so long.

So this morning’s Animal Oracle draw presented me with Hind, strolling through the forest, bright and ephemeral. Her reversed position suggests that I be wary of being too withdrawn, that I should seek opportunity to stand up and be in front.
Well we both know what I’m doing this weekend. Maybe this week is greasing the wheels.

Looking Back At The Omens (Oracle Draws From 1/23/17 – 1/27/17)

This week I pulled cards from the Oracle each weekday morning. It was a week of intense emotion, vivid dreams, and exciting/frightening surprises and it reinforced the notion that this deck truly knows my heart. I feel so blessed to have such a bond with these cards, despite still being truly virginal to their true depth. Having explored dice, runes, and now the Animal Oracle, I’m finding myself more and more drawn to the beauty of reading omens every day.

The faces that appeared before me this week were:

Monday – Bee (Inverted)
Tuesday – Eagle (Inverted)
Wednesday – Eagle (Inverted)
Thursday – Frog
Friday – Bull (Inverted)

The omens this past week ended up being pretty direct on a day-to-day basis. Monday night brought me one step deeper into the hive I’ve been hoping to grow closer to: My Druid Grove. Our Senior Druid messaged me informing me I had been recruited to actively participate in our next High Day ritual, Imbolc, for the first time. It was surprising and somewhat frightening news but it’s a wonderful opportunity on the Dedicant Path and a wonderful opportunity to get closer to the Grove.

Tuesday and Wednesday both brought Eagle, telling me to embrace the messages in dreams, letting them soak into my heart. Both nights I did indeed have peculiar, vivid dreams. The emotions strongly present were excitement, worry, embarrassment, and lust.

Thursday brought Frog. The morning led me to believe I would stand with one toe in the waters, one on the earth, utilizing the circuit to perhaps channel some sort of nurturing with someone close. This could not have been a stronger nor more heartbreaking message.

Friday presented Bull. This one I certainly did not expect. He was a warning and one I did not hold tightly to. I did indeed find myself concerned with a great many worries but unchecked rage was not one of them… Until late in the evening when I suffered a pretty frustrating inconvenience returning home that was quite angering. The rage of the bear boiled in me in a way that is uncommon but not unfamiliar. It was not until I was safely home at my desk that I saw Bull sitting there and it all clicked.

Is there a greater pattern to this week’s reads? Almost all of the omens came inverted, suggesting a great deal of adversity and problems to overcome. The Bee felt my desire to grow closer to Raven’s Cry. It has been more or less intense depending on the goings on around me but recent events have both been very distracting but also emboldening in a magical sense. Eagle spoke of coming dreams, knowing I would be inclined to dissect them. Frog came not with a warning, but with a pillow. Frog knew there was a need and prepared me. Finally Bull tried to caution me on my aggression, steering me away from anger. I suppose, all in all, the Omens spoke directly and spoke largely of caution and alertness and yet I did not heed them well. I acknowledged the meaning after the fact, however. The Omens were a cautioning parent, a “Don’t do that, sweetheart” and “That’s why” to my stubborn and blind “Why?”

Thus far I’ve only consciously invoked the image of one of the Oracle’s cards in my daily activity and that was Damh. It’s very apparent that Stag and I are intersecting strongly. Calling an image of luminous antlers to sprout from my head has become fairly regular practice and recent divination has been guiding me closer and closer to a reunion… Perhaps one where I don’t make an ass of myself.

A great High Day is coming in a matter of days, the anniversary of my first encounter with Damh comes close, and the antlers grow and shed more frequently as they are needed. Perhaps the lesson from this week’s Oracle read is simple: Don’t just read the message, carry it inside you.

I promise I will join you soon, Damh.

The Morning Omens – 1/27/17

What did my curious eyes see Friday morning but a massive, fertile bull staring at me from an awkward angle.

Bull is immediately apparent as size, power, noise, and potent masculinity. From his thick muscles to his enormous testes to his sturdy horns and guttural bellows, Bull is very intimidating. He is one of earth and sky both, signified by the graceful Cranes flying above. The treasures of the horn and rattle both reinforce his symbolism as power and fertility.

So seeing Bull inverted suggests aggression unchecked. Power without balance. A bull in a china shop, if you will. He warns against letting anger consume you, against letting your power loose to do wrong.

This is a bit of a late recording of this omen, as things have been a bit skelter for me lately and I’ve been way behind on my journaling… But this week’s omens have been very accurate and immediate and I’ll be going into them in more detail with my review tomorrow.

Morning Omens – 1/26/17

This morning did not come entirely willingly. I went to bed early with an intent to rise early and get very some important matters done at work before my shift. What ended up happening was an intense dream and restless tossing and turning from midnight until I gave up and got up extra early. 

I used the additional time, the last hours of the dark, to shower and give thanks to Nantosuelta as I did so, then I dressed and sat in front of the altar. I had plenty of time to properly center myself and have a little chat with Nehalennia, expressing my sorrow for the state of our city’s beaches right now, offering her a warm flame and a cool, pure dish to drink from or wet her hands, face, and feet. I asked her to sit with me and lend her hand to the Oracle deck, to grant me inspiration and to meet another face in the cards.

So… Frog! Cousin of my mentor’s companion Toad! A new face indeed.

Looking at the card I see a number of things jump (hah) out at me. Frog crawls towards a cleft in the hills, the mounds of fertile green earth. One foot remains in the water near numerous eggs. One such egg has separated and surfaced. Perhaps preparing to hatch? I also see mushrooms and what looks like a cranberry?

When I think of Frog I think of several things. I think of the flexible dual life of living beneath the water and above. I see hundreds of eggs. I see strong, bounding legs. I see a lightning fast, long tongue. I see wet, possibly poisonous skin. I know Frog and Toad are told as part of ancient traditions in magic and witchcraft. They are signs of healing and medicine and have a strong tie to both the waters and the earth. And they sing! Who doesn’t love singing!

Frog speaks to me of joy and healing and using the strength of the land and water both to share those gifts. A strong message of creation and fertility of course shines through. A message particularly potent in this time when we celebrate Brighid.

The Brighid-Along and Being Close To Brothers and Sisters Afar

Imbolc comes swiftly and this High Day comes with great importance to myself. It is my first foray into knowing Brighid, goddess of fertility, creativity, and flame. She is a Goddess of birth, of nurture, and of art who oversees the forge, guides the calf from his mother, and fills the breast with warmth. 

This time of passage from winter into warmer days is also significant for me personally, as it will be the first High Day with my home Grove where I will be an active participant in the ritual presentation. Our Senior Druid has asked that call to and make offering for the Shining Ones in our rite and it is a tremendous honor and an important step in my journey along this path of piety. 

I am honored and humbled that such a great and revered Goddess such as Brighid might be honored at my first public ritual as a celebrant. I pray She will come to know me better as I seek to know Her in the coming days.

Which leads me to part two of this post. The part in which I marvel at these times where people of magic and piety might do great work and share in a loving bond over great distance. I was blessed to be able to participate in Northern Rivers’ Winter Solstice ritual over the internet recently and that selfsame Grove led me to discover the Sassafras Grove of Pittsburgh and their 2017 “Brighid-Along“.

Along with my own study and prayer, this nine day event affords me an opportunity to learn and participate in prayers and meditation with brothers and sisters on the other side of the country and it is so, so wonderful. This morning I spent my ride to work melting into the midwife meditation, and I clutch that fertile acorn deep inside me, swirling with charged water and dancing flame. My eyes now seek gently over the beauty that surrounds, watching for a warm nest to birth what lies within.

The Internet has become a challenging place for many of my beloved friends and family. It is easy to get swept up in the negativity, hate, and fear that seems to come at all angles at all hours… But being able to join hands across tens of thousands of miles to better know and honor the blessed Kindreds we all love? I’d be hard pressed to give up such a beautiful opportunity.

Many thanks to my wonderful brothers and sisters of Northern Rivers and Sassafras for sharing your love and traditions with me. May the branches that grow out of me from your care one day shelter and nourish you in return.

Looking Back At The Omens (Oracle Draws From 1/15/17 – 1/21/17)

On recommendation from my friend and mentor I am looking back on the cards drawn from the Animal Oracle from the last week all together. I drew seven cards, one for each day of the week, and it feels a bit unbalanced to be honest. Going forward I will aim to draw from the Oracle during the weekdays and take the weekends to rest and consider what I have seen. Laying them out on the table I use for divination also geometrically makes the spread crushed. Five cards lay side by side with ease, seven do not. Small, blind, feeling steps but there we are.

Morning Omens Catching Up (1/23/17 – 1/25/17)

Bee. Eagles. Beegles. Upside-down Beegles.

Revisiting the DPWOTY – Week 1

The Dedicant Path, while not required to be a practicing Druid nor a Druid in the ADF tradition, is certainly a useful tool for educating oneself on the history of Paganism, and Druidry and is a required step for those seeking to become clergy like myself. As I am incredibly rusty as a student and look to framework in order to ease my learning process I am looking to use Rev. Michael Dangler’s “The ADF Dedicant Path Through The Wheel Of The Year” which will provide reading assignments, homework, and guidance through writing the necessary documentation required for completing the program. It is my intent to use a portion of this Druidry weblog to document my weekly work and share my progress as I move along week by week, hoping to complete the course work required by the start of next year.

Morning Omens – 1/21/17

This morning I awoke and called to the Oracle for inspiration, seeking a closer kinship with the spirits that adorn the cards.

I admit I felt a bit startled by the sight of the Dragon of Fire looking back at me.

This card depicts a striking image. A large, serpentine dragon snakes up a barren, rocky cliffside. His scales are as flame, a torrent of fire bursts before him, hours of seating breath shooting from his maw.

He stands on this perch between we and that cavernous mound. One eye on his hoard, the other on the explorer.

This card conjures a strong sensation of being amongst a whirlwind of searing heat. The wind blows and flames lick all around and it is hard to see. Glimspes of blue water and sky peek through the whorl and all around are talons and scales and teeth.

So is the dragon to be feared or to be kin? Do I approach him humbly, seeking wisdom and support or do I seek to outwit him for his treasure? Both carry the risk of danger but both, too, promise great gifts.

Why not both, then? Why not have an open heart and also a clever mind? That is if one can ever truly call the dragon one’s equal.