The Druidic College

Once again the wheel turns and arrives at that moment of transitory balance we call Alban Eiler, the Vernal Equinox. The pendulum swings through that instant and is at once moved on to mark its azimuth. But what is the wheel if not the measure of time defined through motion. Are they not, by definition, relative?

Our concern with time is not how much of it we "have," since we subscribe to the concept that time is infinite and we as spirits will share in this infinity, in one form or another. Having said this, it is an undeniable truth that the young have no anxiety about time given that they know they have all the time in the world, and that as we mature we come to realize this couldn’t be further from the truth. We older mortals tend to get apprehensive when we discover we don’t have enough left to complete that which we have finally come to realize was our purpose for being here all along. But I digress.

We have come through another dark winter, and are eager for the joys of springtime. In traditional cultures, this was a time when the larder was either empty or nearly so, which was likely the reason for fasting during the Christian season of Lent. The first spring greens were popping up, and the promise of another growing season beckoned.

In today's world, we have a ready supply of all sorts of food available year-round.

The Hebrew Bible tells the story of Elijah and how he “proved” Ba’al to be a false god. It is important not to gloss over this story, even for pagans not interested in the Judaic tradition, since it established a pattern that has been used as the basic design for suppressing indigenous religions again and again throughout history.

The major food correspondence with Imbolc is that of milk, specifically ewe's milk. This is the time of year when the ewes are lambing in traditional cultures. The milk from sheep is used around the world, and can be made into a very nice cheese. One local farm, Ancient Heritage Dairy of Scio, sells sheep's milk cheese weekly at the farmers market at People's, 3029 SE 21st Ave. in Portland. If you miss them at the market, which is open year-round on Wednesdays from 2-7 p.m., their cheese is available inside the store as well.

Hail and Greetings! We seemed to have survived the worst Winter has to offer, and here is hoping Spring will be kinder and early!

As mention before, we are at a place where we need to consider our community, our fellowship, for that is most certainly what we must now become if we have not quite done so already.

Recently a question was posed to me by a friend that I found interesting. Now as I read the Questions for the Novice list I see the same question and find it curious. It is not a curious question so much, the answer just seems very obvious to me. Why do we cast the circle at the beginning of a ritual? It occurs to me that I have used circles for many years and this may not be so obvious to someone who is new to Druidry and Wicca. I want to help answer this question from the perspective of someone who remembers being new and wanting answers to questions that you may not have thought to ask.

The botanical name Rosmarinus is derived from the old Latin for 'dew of the sea', a reference to its pale blue dew-like flowers and the fact that it is often grown near the sea.

Several studies done in the last several years show that oil from the leaves of the very plant sold as a spice for flavoring can help prevent the development of cancerous tumors in laboratory animals.

Rosemary was once considered as one of the great cure-all herb. Pliny mentioned it for its medicinal and cosmetic powers and early Arab physicians revered it.

To continue with divination with the elements, we will move on to scrying with water The strongest belief in Ireland is a belief in the curative power of the Holy Wells that are scattered about the country, fountains of health and healing which at one time were blessed by one of the Irish goddesses, or by which some goddesses dwelt in the far-off ancient times, or which, in the in the more current history, some saint had either blessed or had dwelt by. Priestesses at at these wells were consulted by women on matters of fertility, health, love, and family matters.

To continue our theme of elemental divination we will cover Earth. Crystals, stones and bones have been cast for the reason of foreseeing he future.

The throwing of any type of object has generally become known as “casting of lots”. The history of such talking stones is difficult to trace. Anthropologists tell us that certain primitive peoples used to cast the knuckle bones of animals in order to foresee the future. The Yoruba people of Nigeria have a system of divination with cowrie shells, called If'a in their Language. This ancient system is still practiced today in Nigeria in some African-based religious systems. Eventually someone had the great idea to carve, or paint symbols on stones, and so was born the art of lithomancy (from the Greek word “lithos” meaning “stone”).

In an essay called The Wheel of Changes published in The Druid Renaissance, Robert Hills draws a connection between the Wheel of the Year and the Chinese trigrams – eight symbols which, when taken two at a time, make up the 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching. Several authors have also pointed out the correlation of the 64 hexagrams with the 64 codons that make up the genetic code of DNA. One afternoon, while pondering the ancient Chinese oracle, I wondered what other connections exist between the traditions of Druidry, Taoism, and modern science, and was rather surprised with what I discovered.