Sunday 7 September 2014

Barding :D what's that then :P

So I have been thinking about people and how they practice their craft. Maybe it's funny that I should be thinking about it because......well..........I suppose it's just that there are lots of different ways to practice and in my last post I spoke about my grove family. I just love and admire the way we are celebrating our differences, giving each individual a chance to have their say and contribute something to the group. Yesterday I had a party to celebrate my completion of the bardic grade within The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD). It was a celebration from a combined group of very very magickal people, all of which wanted to share the day talking about and celebrating our craft. I decided to call it a Barding after the name of the grade I had just completed and the very first part of the order, the Bards.

It really fascinates me how the craft or our craft can be anything from grey Magick to demon worship hahaha, and yet we all get on and celebrate each other's strengths and personal triumphs. It's a testament to how diversity can give strength to others if understanding is made our foundation. With understanding we can appreciate the strengths that each different way of practicing can give to our own way of doing things, expanding our boundaries and increasing our knoweledge.

Anyway at this party we worked with the bardic circle casting and the prayer of our grove which is part of the bardic course and the practices that make up OBOD (it was MY party after all hahaha). I was so thankful to the people that came and I was so blessed with what they said and did for me that day, even though not all of them practice the same faith or craft as me, they do however recognise the importance of it to my life and the power it has to change, grow and empower the people performing it.

My grove family have shown me and taught me so much over the past year and a half. Lessons of tolerance, faith, love and compassion have all come from the fact that everyone in my little family has something different to contribute, and every contribution is considered with understanding, where the value of everything is accepted based on how it affects us all in different ways.

I couldn't have asked to be part of a family like this, I am so lucky that they found me and that they offer me understanding.

Monday 1 September 2014

A new kind of family

I know I bang on a bout this stuff a lot but the thing is, you only really bang on about the stuff that really matters to you.............I am a member of something amazing and it's my grove hehehe. The grove of the white goddess :D.

Recently loosing my father and with the rest of my family either very far away or just plain not interested, I have found support from the people that others would assume don't have much to do with me. Of course it's only once a month and involves sacrificing goats to an imaginary host of spirits that want to use me and my friends to take over the world hahahahahahaha. But that's wrong, dead wrong.

Over the past 18 months I have met a lot of different people. People who come from almost every walk of life, who in their own way all love and practice Magick. In that time I have made friends, lost friends and become part of something that we have all affectionately named..........our pagan family.

Some people may feel a little out of their depth at times when they come to the grove ,and though being confronted with this massive gaggle of pagan geese may seem intimidating. Let me tell you that through my hardships I have never felt more love, compassion or support. 

From a group of seemingly random and beautiful people I have been given time to cry, laugh (like I have never laughed before), grow and learn new skills. All of us have this one thing in common.......Magick!!............ That special kind of connection that means no matter how far or how lost you may become you always get a hug from everyone when you walk in to the hall just once a month, goats and all.

I used to think that being alone with my thoughts was how I best processed them or that only blood relatives could offer me the support that I needed. But I have learned that if I don't share my life with others then I will never be able to share others lives with them and that in it's self makes for a lonely existence indeed. My Magick and my heart has grown because I have learned to accept others in to my life and my Magick. It's been a hard journey but now I am enjoying having more than just friends.......I have a family...........and I am part of a growing community ( that loves hugs..........and goats hahahahaha :D).