The Druidic College

The season of Alban Elued, the beginning of autumn, has always been a season of magic for me.
The balance of dark and light evokes the eternal play between seasons, the two halves of the world, one courting spring, one flirting with autumn. Seeing both in combination as a simultaneous sensual overlay is like seeing the delicate and joy-filled balance between our world and the Otherworld, as well.

It is in this context that I appreciate the power and preciousness of magic and what a profound gift it is to the fallible and questing human.

For the curious: we don't have separate URLs by author of our bardic sharing, but please feel free to rummage. The work in here (by everyone) is one of my most cherished pieces of this work. Bright Blessings, Arvanna Redmantle

A friend posted on her blog recently about her ambivalence toward the Second Life cyberspace community. (Second Life lets you construct the person you might wish you were in real life and roleplay their story online.)

She notes that pouring one’s energy into creating a fictional alter ego in this way distracts from making needed self-transformations in the “first” life.

Samhain marks one of the two great portals of the Celtic Year. For our Celtic ancestors, day began with the darkness of night, so too the New Year begins with the darkness of winter. In this sacred time, we celebrate the beginning of a new cycle of life, death and rebirth. It is in
the silence that we hear the whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seeds hidden below in the ground. Samhain is the beginning of the cycle, welcoming the darkness of Winter and thus one of the most magically powerful time of the Wheel.

It is nice to see that Druidry is getting some press on YouTube. There are a variety of interesting videos: Eisteddfod excerpts, summer solstice and other rituals from OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids), some postings relating to ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship), and more.

And it is even better to see how our Groves harmonize with Other Druidic Events going on in our world. Ah, the greener grasses of home....

In peace,
Arvanna Redmantle
Prifardd, Order of the Sacred Oaks
Chosen Chief, Silver Birch Grove, OSO

Fall Equinox marks the still point at which dark and light are equal in the turning of the wheel. We are moving from the triumph of the Summer Sun toward the Winter Darkness.