Friday, November 7, 2008

This Blogging Stuff

Well, I'm going to give it a try.
Like I need one more thing to do on the computer.
However, I think I can make this rather fun for me, and perhaps useful for students of Druidic Paganism and magic.
So, that's the focus of this blog - the work of building a modern Celtic or Druidic spiritual practice, from the exoteric work of public sacrifices and other rites, to the work of spiritual practice and training for the individual, to more esoteric matters of sorcery, spirit-art and the like, all in a Celtic or Druidic context.
My own background includes a decade working in a Wiccan tradition with a strong ceremonial-magic element, experiments in Solomonic magic, years of ecstatic festival drum-and-dance ritual, and the last 15 years or so of working in the Pagan Druidic system of Ar nDraiocht Fein. For me this history has meant a transition from the Hermetic Qabalah of the GD, and the planetary magic it contains, through a Wiccan version of Celtic lore, to a fairly reconstructionist approach to Pagan religion, spirituality and magic.
My own theological orientation is a relatively hard polytheism, laced with mystical monism. My ritual orientation is fairly high-church - I enjoy ritual as an art-form as well as a means to an end. My mystical inclination is a kind of Pagan post-Thelema, seeing the personal soul as containing a true and real individual spark of the All, both unifed with and separate from the All-in-All.
You can find out all you need to know about the exoteric and religious part of my practice at http://www.adf.org/, and read some of my own essays (now rather old) at http://www.stonecreed.org/, the site of our local Grove. With that group I have kept the cycles of the year for these past, oh, 17 years. You can see my published work at www.lulu.com/tredara - the most important - at least most comprehensive - of that material is "Sacred Fire, Holy Well" my Big Book o' Druidism.
By the way, I'm also a fantasy, horror and, especially, Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos fan. You'll see reviews and some of that stuff here as well.
So... what to post first...
blessings...

2 comments:

WhiteTigress said...

Can't wait to see what comes up...there's so much to still learn.

Linda Costello said...

My own theological orientation is a relatively hard polytheism, laced with mystical monism. My ritual orientation is fairly high-church - I enjoy ritual as an art-form as well as a means to an end. My mystical inclination is a kind of Pagan post-Thelema, seeing the personal soul as containing a true and real individual spark of the All, both unifed with and separate from the All-in-All.

I find that this pretty much describes my own stand. I very much have relationships with several gods and goddesses, yet still have this overriding sense that we (and I include the deities with that) are all part of a single, greater whole - I usually just call it the Universe or Spirit, for lack of a better definition, but it may actually be more likened to the Tao - something indescribable.

And I, too, feel quite strongly about the idea of the Self or soul being a unique spark of that Oneness, leading to the idea of both our uniqueness and our connectedness.

It's great to see you writing here :)