Course Description

[Maggie]

This is intended as a guided discussion group, rather than a step by step "how to" course.
At this point there are some general areas that I intend to explore, these may change as time goes on.

1)Nature: What is "nature", how people view it, how to build a connection with nature, how people do it

2)Ancestors: what is a "connection", how to build a connection and how people do it

3)Work: this is rough category yet, my intention is to explore how work shapes our perceptions

4)Integration: how people take these various aspects and integrate them into contemporary daily life

Reminder:

These are all *discussion* topics. I would like everyone to exchange, not "prove" anything. And respect goes all the way around the continuum of practice...

Maggie

[Anubis RainHawk]

What about Druidic concept of the gods? Will we go into that?

[Maggie]

What about Druidic concept of the gods? Will we go into that?

We could, perhaps as one of the subtopics in this initial discussion point. I'm trying to stick to areas where there might be a rough consensus and diety concepts are rather varied among modern branches of druidry. Might work if it's simply treated as a discussion point that illustrates that.

Maggie

[Maggie]

This is intended as a guided discussion group, rather than a step by step "how to" course.
At this point there are some general areas that I intend to explore, these may change as time goes on.

1)Nature: What is "nature", how people view it, how to build a connection with nature, how people do it

2)Ancestors: what is a "connection", how to build a connection and how people do it

3)Work: this is rough category yet, my intention is to explore how work shapes our perceptions

4)Integration: how people take these various aspects and integrate them into contemporary daily life

Reminder:

These are all *discussion* topics. I would like everyone to exchange, not "prove" anything. And respect goes all the way around the continuum of practice...

Maggie

After reading some exchanges in other threads it appears to me that there is some misunderstanding about the purpose of this discussion group.

I realize this is absolute heresy in some quarters but for the purpose I had in mind here, I don't care what kind of druid (or not) a person considers him/herself to be. That is not the topic here. Nor is deciding who is the most academically learned in celtic scholarship. For my part, I'll concede that one right now.

When discussing druidry phrases like "connection to nature", "honoring the ancestors", "love of scholarship", "spirit of the ancient druids" etc are tossed around quite freely. Okay dokey, I do it myself. But what do those phrases mean to each person, and on a day to day basis? That is why I finally chose the title "Druid Perspectives" for this group. I acknowledge there is quite a range of groups and individuals that have chosen the word "druid" to describe themselves and what I was hoping for here was to have an exchange of different perspectives among everyone. That is why I deliberately stated that I didn't want dueling proofs in here. I am interested in what people mean by the words they use, why they do what they do, and how they bring their beliefs into their personal lives, even why they chose druidry over something else. That kind of exchange is always stifled when people have to worry about being crushed to death by tomes of scholarship. It is possible to explain "I do this because..." without adding and "therefore you're wrong because you don't. So and so specifically states in her multi-volume work..."

That kind of thing certainly has its place--I respect academia, I have degrees of my own. But that's not the focus here, nor is one upmanship, nor is proving how clever one is by the use of cute little parodies. The why and wherefore and meaning of personal belief is, and the free exchange of ideas in those areas is not furthered by such tactics.

Maggie

[blackroseivy]

Woah, some people musta really gone overboard in here!!

[Caedmon]

Hi I am interested in the druidic path and I would like to know how to take these courses you are going to start?

[Maggie]

Hi I am interested in the druidic path and I would like to know how to take these courses you are going to start?

This really isn't a formal class like most of the others here, I intend it more as a discussion of the ideas and practices often found in druidry. You are welcome to start at the beginning of each topic and read along at your own pace, posting when you find a question or have a comment to make. There isn't any time limit on these discussions.

I think you'll find what you're looking for in the way of more structured teachings in the Druid Forum, particularly in the first thread called Druid Portals, I think. Others have asked the same kind of question and there are several different possibilities among the answers.

Maggie