Month: November 2017

Once again we face it. The shorter days. The cold temperatures. A time to stay in and stay put. As this time is upon us I personally find myself with more time on my plate to contemplate. To wander about the reaches of my shrunken brain and rattle around. Dangerous territory for me to be in.

This time of year always brings about depression for me. As often as I’ve been through it you would think I would prepare. But oh no. Not me. I’m taken somewhat by surprise every time. The thoughts of self doubt. The negative thinking. Thoughts of inadequacy. It’s not my favorite time of the year to say the least.

This year I have some ammunition to combat all this nasty stuff. I’ve been building up a nest egg of positive deeds to fall back on.

Spirituality tops my list of ways to take on the blahs. Whenever I’m feeling my lowest a good swift kick in the spiritual pants helps put things right. And this year has been crammed with spiritual activity. I founded the Vitki/Volva Forum which now has over 900 members. I started this blog. I took on more vitki apprentices. I was told by my departed father to explore Druidry which I am. Lots of great stuff spiritually. I can take a breather and relax a few months.

But I know I won’t. I still am accountable to my apprentices. I still need to monitor the forum. I have bucket loads of things to learn about Druidry. And of course I need to keep growing in my role as vitki. Plenty to keep me busy during these dark months. Plenty as always to learn.

So this year the season changes and I’m not curling up into a ball over it. I’m looking back at the deeds of this past year and smiling. And looking ahead at the work to do with an even bigger smile!

What makes a ritual successful for me?  What keeps me coming back to performing ritual?  I think the easiest way to explain it is that for me a ritual needs to have an element of connection with the other realms. Some form of otherworldly communication. That is what gets me fired up and returning to the practice of ritual. Hey if it has an element of having a chat with the ancestors or deities I’m all in!

Over the past two days I’ve performed two rituals using OBOD guidelines. Normally I’m a bit sceptical about performing a ritual written by someone else. But I decided I’d give it a try. I’d perform the rituals as written and see what happened. I’m glad I did.

The first ritual was a self initiation into OBOD. The second was a Samhuinn ritual. My first Samhuinn since deciding to take the path of Druidry. Two really big rituals. I decided to do the initiation ritual the 31st and Samhuinn was for the 1st. That way I would be able to remember exactly the date I became a member of OBOD.

I prepared for over a week. The preparation paid off. Both rituals went off smoothly. Both had powerful meaning to me when completed.

So why the emphasis for me on ritual including an element of communication with other realms?  I would say for me that’s when I feel the most spiritually plugged in. I derive most of my spiritual mojo that way. Some would call what I experience UPG and laugh it off. I say it’s the way I keep my practice alive and not just pouring through dusty tomes. There is a place for scholarship of course but most of my spiritual revelations are experiential. I need to experience something other than myself in keeping my practices breathing.

Some would say how do you know you’re connecting with another realm and not just some buried part of your subconscious?  Experience has shown me that there is something out there we can tap into. Just look at the natural world. Nature teaches many lessons that are bigger than us. So if there is that why is it such a big stretch to believe there are other realms of existence? For me it’s not a big jump.

Spirituality makes as successful ritual for me. A large part of my spirituality is connecting with the other realms. And as long as I keep having time with entities from other realms I’ll keep coming back.