Apple Pie, custard and your experience of reality.

Within so much modern Druidry it can appear that the focus is upon fancy robes, buying stuff and being seen to be a Druid.  This is unfortunate, and, as the fingers of materialism drift into the fibres of modern Druidry it becomes more about what you have in your house that looks mysterious than about the real purpose of the Druidic path.

A path that at it's very heart encompasses the great work of the western mystery tradition. To Know Thyself, and to become the very best version of yourself that you can be.

The pursuit of wholeness is one with many lessons, and to tread it one must be prepared for the transformation that comes. When we peel back the layers of false reality, we often discover aspects of ourselves that we are less keen on. Unfortunately, within a lot of modern spirituality this is seen as the shadow. However, this is to harken back to a time when Christianity still held sway over the minds of the great psychologists. Shadow equates to sin, it makes out that you are not perfect. And yet you were born perfect.  Everything that you ever needed to be the very best you in this life you were born with.

Admittedly there are aspects of ourselves that we are not so keen on. Often this is because they go against the egoic illusion of how we perceive ourselves. Nowhere do you hear people talk about the shadow self than amongst the therapists and white lighters. Whilst you are identifying yourself this way, you will never re-discover your wholeness.  

These labels create separation, they divide the self.  In truth, there is no left side rights side, conscious unconscious, shadow and light self, there is just you. Born with the infinite potential, a stream of consciousness with the gift to create,

Which is what we do,, we create the very reality we experience.  Let me rephrase that. We create the experience of the reality that we believe to be our lives. It is only ourselves that chose whether something is good or bad, often based upon the past and not upon our present situation.

In fact, very little of what we experience is ever happening the way we believe it to be. We are in truth, beug lazy.  Let me explain.  

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Say for instance that when you were four an aunt of yours baked a pie, your favourite. And she added to it some home made custard. Unknown to the 4 year old you, custard is not your aunts string point. It came out lumpy, sickly tasting and it not only ruined your thoughts about custard, but it put you off the pie.

Jump forward, your mind notices a situation where you are being offered pie and homemade custard. Rather than taking this moment upon its merits, your mind is lazy, it scans its associations and when it finds the incident with the aunt it just uses that to asses the situation. Regardless of how good this new pie and custard may be, you brain goes, "Hmmmm, do not eat it, it will taste horrible and ruin the pie."

​This is how we experience most of our lives.

The practices of Druidry help to bring us into the moment, to enable us to experience this moment as it is, to in essence walk with wonder.  How many opportunities do we miss because a situation reminds us of something that once happened?  When we start the path of self knowledge we begin to notice this pattern, to step out side of it and through our practice, learn to interrupt the patterns, creating new possibilities and facilitating personal growth and transformation.

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One of the ways we start to listen to and observe that inner world is through spending time in nature. In silence, in meditation or on pilgrimage.  When the distractions of technology and 21st century life are stripped away, when we focus within we start to see, to hear the voice of our souls, our true selves, made perfect that nobody ever sees.

By listening to this voice we open the way to personal growth, to living an authentic life.

See how many ways you can, start now, to create those moments of silent, inward reflection.

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