thefluiddruid
January 25th, 2002, 01:29 PM
The Druidic Gifts
The Gift of the Bard (or Ollamh)
The Bardic Gift is the ability to communicate knowledge
of such things as the Ancestors, History,
Music, Genealogy, and other Concepts to others.
This sounds simple, but is often just the opposite.
For instance when you experience an "illumination" you know what has happened,
but there are no words to directly describe it.
Often we try to convey the experience by analogy,
or leading others to experience it through the use of a story, poem, or song
but since everyone has slightly different ideas on what any word means in any given context, often even this fails.
This is because we can only view things that we read or are told about through the filter of our own experiences and beliefs.
The Bardic gift allows one to sense the filter of those we speak to and phrase things
so that they will be more likely to have some understanding of what we are trying to say.
Part of this is understanding the culture that the person we are trying to communicate with is from.
Often differant cultures and subcultures have very differant views of the same concept or event.
For instance the birth of a child.
In many societies the birth of a child is a cause for rejoicing.
This often means parties, and other forms of celebration.
However in traditional Celtic societies while it is indeed considered a blessing,
it is also a reason to grief for the family who the spirit had belonged to previously,
as we believe that they will dearly miss the loved one who has passed from that life to this one.
Similarly a death in the family is the reason for a type of party we call a "Wake".
During a Wake we put aside our grief, and celebrate the fact that our loved one ever existed at all.
We also celebrate the fact that somewhere a family has been blessed with the addition of a beautiful spirit to their family.
In other cultures this same death is a cause of great grieving and sense of loss.
In this case the Bardic gift allows us to understand the cultural outlook of the family,
as well as to understand how best to comfort them.
But the Bardic Gift goes far beyond this item of common sense.
The Bard knows that by combining words and music
we can communicate not only on a verbal, logical level,
but also on a more basic, emotional level.
This ability to communicate effectively also teaches us how to communicate things
in such a way as to improve the chances of them being remembered.
The Gift of the Seer (or Fáith)
The gift of the Seer is usually associated with the realm of earth (the middle world).
The seers gifts are those of Truly seeing this world.
Because of this the gift of the Seer covers such seemingly disparate arts
as Herbalism, Divination, and Politics.
Many people observe this world, but try to interpret what they observe by what they expect to see.
To truly understand this world we must put aside out expectations,
and learn to not only observe the things in this world,
but allow everything to be it's individual self,
instead of trying to make it fit a place in our reality,
allowing it to find it's own place in our reality in it's own time.
Take Pit Bulls for instance.
I have known many people who owned Pit Bulls,
and thought of them as vicious dogs who were very territorial.
However these very same dogs, when approached with no expectations,
have often turned out to be "love puppies" when I interacted with them.
Of course I didn't just walk up and indiscriminately start playing with them,
but observed their body language, and determined what mood they were in,
After all they are individuals with likes and dislikes just as we are.
This aspect of the Seers Gift also allows you to look through the illusions of our societies,
and see the underlying realities.
Once again a large part of this is keeping an open mind.
A classic example of this is reading your daily newspaper.
For instance the press may say that someone
(let's call him Bubba Shrubb) has been arrested for Possession of Cocaine.
That Bubba had been arrested would be a true fact.
However just because Bubba was arrested does not mean that he is guilty.
Bubba may have been knowingly in the company of the person who was really in possession,
or even not have anything to do with the crime.
After all, all it takes for someone to be arrested is for them to be accused.
However the average person would probably assume
that he would not have been arrested if he was not guilty.
This same ability of openminded observation allows us to observe things that others tend to overlook,
which allows us to learn things from nature such as herbalism.
It also aids us in observing people and discerning their true motives, which is a large part of politics.
The Gift of the Druid (or Drùidh)
Learning how to understand and interact with the "spirit world".
In part the gift of the Druid is the culmination of the first two gifts,
as it includes the ability to observe the world around us,
as well as to communicate what we observe to others.
But above and beyond this it is the ability to combine these abilities
with the ability to understand and interact with the "Spirit World".
These abilities allow us a greater insight of "reality" or "truth",
as well as a greater sense of justice or balance.
This lends it's self to such areas of expertise as ritual and liturgy,
law and ethics, divination, and the sciences.
People speak of the "real world" and the "spirit world" as if they were separate things.
In reality they are just parts of our universe.
There is no true separation, one blends softly into the other.
Just as there is no real separation between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean,
there may be different currents, but there is really just one ocean on our planet,
with different areas having different names and somewhat different properties.
Likewise a person's personality does not change drastically
after their transition from incarnate to disincarnate.
Everything we experience in the physical world is reflected in the spiritual world and vice versa.
As the Ceremonial Mages say, "As above, so below".
In fact it has been known that at times we interact with spirits,
and never realize that they were not physically incarnate at the time.
The concept of "As above, so below" also illustrates the Druidic concept of balance.
Balance not necessarily of separate and opposing forces, but of the amount and extent of these forces.
In fact we believe that all forces are interconnected, especially those that appear to oppose each other.
In this way the spiritual and material realms are part of a greater whole,
just as Men and Women are part of the greater whole of humanity.
The Gift of the Bard (or Ollamh)
The Bardic Gift is the ability to communicate knowledge
of such things as the Ancestors, History,
Music, Genealogy, and other Concepts to others.
This sounds simple, but is often just the opposite.
For instance when you experience an "illumination" you know what has happened,
but there are no words to directly describe it.
Often we try to convey the experience by analogy,
or leading others to experience it through the use of a story, poem, or song
but since everyone has slightly different ideas on what any word means in any given context, often even this fails.
This is because we can only view things that we read or are told about through the filter of our own experiences and beliefs.
The Bardic gift allows one to sense the filter of those we speak to and phrase things
so that they will be more likely to have some understanding of what we are trying to say.
Part of this is understanding the culture that the person we are trying to communicate with is from.
Often differant cultures and subcultures have very differant views of the same concept or event.
For instance the birth of a child.
In many societies the birth of a child is a cause for rejoicing.
This often means parties, and other forms of celebration.
However in traditional Celtic societies while it is indeed considered a blessing,
it is also a reason to grief for the family who the spirit had belonged to previously,
as we believe that they will dearly miss the loved one who has passed from that life to this one.
Similarly a death in the family is the reason for a type of party we call a "Wake".
During a Wake we put aside our grief, and celebrate the fact that our loved one ever existed at all.
We also celebrate the fact that somewhere a family has been blessed with the addition of a beautiful spirit to their family.
In other cultures this same death is a cause of great grieving and sense of loss.
In this case the Bardic gift allows us to understand the cultural outlook of the family,
as well as to understand how best to comfort them.
But the Bardic Gift goes far beyond this item of common sense.
The Bard knows that by combining words and music
we can communicate not only on a verbal, logical level,
but also on a more basic, emotional level.
This ability to communicate effectively also teaches us how to communicate things
in such a way as to improve the chances of them being remembered.
The Gift of the Seer (or Fáith)
The gift of the Seer is usually associated with the realm of earth (the middle world).
The seers gifts are those of Truly seeing this world.
Because of this the gift of the Seer covers such seemingly disparate arts
as Herbalism, Divination, and Politics.
Many people observe this world, but try to interpret what they observe by what they expect to see.
To truly understand this world we must put aside out expectations,
and learn to not only observe the things in this world,
but allow everything to be it's individual self,
instead of trying to make it fit a place in our reality,
allowing it to find it's own place in our reality in it's own time.
Take Pit Bulls for instance.
I have known many people who owned Pit Bulls,
and thought of them as vicious dogs who were very territorial.
However these very same dogs, when approached with no expectations,
have often turned out to be "love puppies" when I interacted with them.
Of course I didn't just walk up and indiscriminately start playing with them,
but observed their body language, and determined what mood they were in,
After all they are individuals with likes and dislikes just as we are.
This aspect of the Seers Gift also allows you to look through the illusions of our societies,
and see the underlying realities.
Once again a large part of this is keeping an open mind.
A classic example of this is reading your daily newspaper.
For instance the press may say that someone
(let's call him Bubba Shrubb) has been arrested for Possession of Cocaine.
That Bubba had been arrested would be a true fact.
However just because Bubba was arrested does not mean that he is guilty.
Bubba may have been knowingly in the company of the person who was really in possession,
or even not have anything to do with the crime.
After all, all it takes for someone to be arrested is for them to be accused.
However the average person would probably assume
that he would not have been arrested if he was not guilty.
This same ability of openminded observation allows us to observe things that others tend to overlook,
which allows us to learn things from nature such as herbalism.
It also aids us in observing people and discerning their true motives, which is a large part of politics.
The Gift of the Druid (or Drùidh)
Learning how to understand and interact with the "spirit world".
In part the gift of the Druid is the culmination of the first two gifts,
as it includes the ability to observe the world around us,
as well as to communicate what we observe to others.
But above and beyond this it is the ability to combine these abilities
with the ability to understand and interact with the "Spirit World".
These abilities allow us a greater insight of "reality" or "truth",
as well as a greater sense of justice or balance.
This lends it's self to such areas of expertise as ritual and liturgy,
law and ethics, divination, and the sciences.
People speak of the "real world" and the "spirit world" as if they were separate things.
In reality they are just parts of our universe.
There is no true separation, one blends softly into the other.
Just as there is no real separation between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean,
there may be different currents, but there is really just one ocean on our planet,
with different areas having different names and somewhat different properties.
Likewise a person's personality does not change drastically
after their transition from incarnate to disincarnate.
Everything we experience in the physical world is reflected in the spiritual world and vice versa.
As the Ceremonial Mages say, "As above, so below".
In fact it has been known that at times we interact with spirits,
and never realize that they were not physically incarnate at the time.
The concept of "As above, so below" also illustrates the Druidic concept of balance.
Balance not necessarily of separate and opposing forces, but of the amount and extent of these forces.
In fact we believe that all forces are interconnected, especially those that appear to oppose each other.
In this way the spiritual and material realms are part of a greater whole,
just as Men and Women are part of the greater whole of humanity.