[Updated 4 October 2020]
May the blessing of light be on you — light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm themselves at it.And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave
there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.May it rest so lightly over you that your spirit may be out
from under it quickly; up and off and on its way.
And now may the Spirit bless you, and bless you kindly.— traditional Scottish Blessing (adapted)
/|\ About the Blogger
July, 2019
Welcome! I’m Dean Easton, and A Druid Way records my idiosyncratic walk along one path of Druidry. I’m an Ovate affiliated with OBOD, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it in case it doesn’t: it’s not necessary to belong to any group to practice a Druid path, just as it’s not necessary to be a Druid to strive to live closer to the earth and in greater harmony with nature.
The four seasons of my New England home afford ample training in following Spirit “through all weathers” in its many guises.
/|\ About Speaking Requests
With reasonable notice, I’m often available to speak about things I write about here on the blog. If you’d like me to speak or facilitate a workshop at your event or for your group, you can reach me through the Contact form. Then post a brief message on any recent post saying you’ve done so, because I check the Contact email irregularly.
Is your group or event focusing on Druidry, spirituality, crafting a personal spiritual practice, ritual, the work of the bard, inspiration, poetry, and similar subjects? Are you looking for a ritual — and a ritual experience — dedicated to your particular focus? I’ll work with you till the awen is flowing.
I’ve presented workshops at MAGUS (Mid-Atlantic Gathering U.S.), East Coast Gathering (now Dragon Oak OBOD Retreat/DOOR), Gulf Coast Gathering, and written for OBOD’s Druid Magazine (now archived here) and AODA’s Trilithon (“Devotionals“, Summer Solstice 2018).
Somewhat further afield from Druidry, I’ve presented papers on Tolkien and Beowulf at the annual International Congress of Medieval Studies, published a number of books on academic subjects, along with a volume of poetry (Get Lost, Go Home) as part of a Master’s thesis in English/creative writing.
I’ve also been teaching professionally in secondary schools (Choate Rosemary Hall) and universities (SUNY Albany; Hunan University/Hunan Daxue; Purdue University; Ajia Daigaku/Asia University; SIT/School for International Training, among others) for over three decades, facilitating writing and spirituality workshops, organizing discussions, and working with student groups of diverse backgrounds, ages, native languages and perspectives.
/|\ About the Blog Name
If you’re curious, it’s A Druid Way rather than The Druid Way because there isn’t just one, or just mine. Anyone who tries to tell you (or sell you) differently is full of hooey, which is a much nicer word than they deserve.
/|\ About Blogging
Regarding blogging, Philip Carr-Gomm, Chosen Chief of OBOD, writes,
Just as the spiritual path can be characterised as the ongoing attempt to both remember yourself and forget yourself, so blogging can be seen as a challenge to both be more personal, more open, more sharing of the riches of a life and at the same time to take yourself less seriously, to let go of the concern about what other people might think about you, and to reveal rather than conceal your curiosity and amazement at the often crazy world you find yourself in.
/|\ About doing Druidry
Kris Hughes (r) and me at ECG ’15
Why Druidry? My simplest reason: earth is home, a place to live and love.* Affiliation with the OBOD Druid order has helped to provide a focus and a context (see Here, Everything Has a Container) I’ve found, from over 30 years on another path I still follow, that I need and benefit from.
Penny Billington in her goddess workshop at ECG ’14. Photo courtesy John Beckett.
It also brings me into contact with fabulous people like Kristoffer Hughes, author and head of Urdd Derwyddon Mon, the Anglesey Druid Order in Wales; Robert Tallent, OBOD Druid and Christian; and Penny Billington, mage, musician, editor of OBOD’s Touchstone monthly magazine, and author of some fine Druid mysteries and of a solid guide to practicing a Celtic-flavored Druidry.
Bob Tallent (r) and me at ECG ’15
And apart from orders, and among many other benefits, most importantly Druidry helps get me out of my head and into the fresh air and onto the good earth. I’ve moved far from my upbringing as a farmer’s son, spending much of my life after childhood and adolescence dealing with and making a living more from my intellect as a teacher and writer.
Membership in a Druid order affords me fellowship on the path and challenges me with others’ discoveries, practices and points of view. And it’s fun — why does that aspect of spiritual practice so often get overlooked?! On the Druid path we greet, celebrate and participate with the natural world and each of the seasons and cycles of life for their gifts and beauty and lessons. That “seasoned” practice immediately offers a few recurrent major themes for this blog. I keep finding others as I go.
/|\ /|\ /|\
/|\ About the Content
Unless otherwise indicated, all text and images on A Druid Way belong to me. Check the laws of copyright if you don’t get them. Give credit. Ask permission. Both of these work surprisingly well, even though they’re underused. See the specific credit for the Header Image of this blog. Thanks, Jeremy!
/|\ About Druidry
If you’d like more information on Druidry, see my Books and Links page. The Wikipedia entries on druid and neo-druidism are also serviceable and can get you started; see the bibliography at the end of the second entry for additional links. Four well-established and reputable groups that I am personally acquainted with are OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids), ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin/A Druid Fellowship — literally, “Our Own Druidry”), BDO (the British Druid Order), and AODA (Ancient Order of Druids in America). All four offer practice-tested and valuable training programs and guidance, a community of supportive, fun and like-minded people, and a sustaining vision for the present and future. The external links at the bottom of Wikipedia’s entry for “neo-druidry” list many other organizations.
As with Druidry, so with Druid Orders: you certainly don’t need to belong to one to practice. In fact, if your Druidry doesn’t eventually call you to your own unique practices in at least some ways, regardless of whether you “belong” to an Order or not, you may want to question its value. (As the Galilean Master observed in a not-so-different context, the Sabbath was made for people, not the other way round.)
At MAGUS ’17 (that’s me in hat and robe)
/|\ About the /|\ Symbol
/|\ represents the three rays of awen, the Welsh word for inspiration and spiritual awareness. It’s a widely-used Druid symbol. (You can compare various versions and designs if you do an image search for awen.) I use it in this blog as punctuation between sections of entries, and generally as a visually distinctive formatting device. I also find it’s a good reminder to me as I write of what I’m trying to do.
/|\ DISCLAIMER
Like many things that should go without saying, please use common sense and discretion when investigating any group, school, teaching, teacher, etc. The mention of any individual, group, or course of study, or inclusion of a link anywhere on this site, is not an automatic endorsement. Follow your own judgment, needs, inner guidance and resources.
/|\ Footnote on Punctuation
(for those to whom such things matter deeply)
The more recent posts here use the “logical” or British style, which shows up most noticeably with any punctuation outside quotation marks, unless the punctuation is actually part of the quotation — hence, logical! Older posts, however, follow the North American style, the way I was trained and how I taught for years, always grumbling when students followed their own logic and, not surprisingly, came close to British style, for which I dutifully docked them points. Ah, education!
/|\ /|\ /|\
*”Earth’s the right place for love.
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.”
— Robert Frost, “Birches.”
A Druid Way 