I once believed the Druids to be a profession in the Celtic Society. In my eyes, they were specialized, high educated , spiritual leaders of Celtic Society. I was proclaiming myself as a druid and worked diligently to achieve this goal of mine. I believed that there was this Celtic Tree Calendar. I learned of writers that made a lot of crap up about the Celts and their spirituality.
When I was forced to rethink about the druids role in Celtic Society, and everything connected to all these falsehoods, I struggled with everything. I was asking questions and studying even harder everything that I thought I knew. One of these falsehoods was the 20 years of training for druids. Nope, Caesar stated that it would take 20 years to learn what they knew. Which was a compliment toward the intelligence of the Celtic people. The Celtic tribes were a great threat to Caesar because they were very intelligent and skilled craftsmen and warriors. I was foolish and never researched the Celtic Tree Calendar any more than I did. I had to check to see what tree I was and left it at that. I thought it was cool that I was a Hawthorn. I came to learn recently that it was a stupid made-up piece of garbage.
So after my month of struggles I have figured out my problems and I am walking on. Druids are still an important part of Celtic Society, they were the highly educated men and women of Celtic Society. Druids are the educated class of the Celtic people, nothing more. SO I am still a druid because I am well educated. But my profession in the Celtic/Pagan society is what got clearer.
I am starting a new direction with my path, I don't have any fancy names or fine details fleshed out yet. But I am happy once again and I see few possible obstacles to deal with now. I get to thank my love for old fashioned roleplaying for reminding me of what I want to be. Rolemaster RPG had a profession called the Warrior-mage, and that is the role that I will now fill. I am not following a Wiccan ideal. The Celts were fierce warriors, we aren't the "Harm None" people. Mess with us and you would be hunted and killed. The Celts did some ancestor worship and held honor very highly. They we buried with swords , so the pacifist mentality just doesn't work for the Celtic people. The Celts understood and used magic openly. I want to embrace the full aspect of the Celtic people, so I will embrace the Warrior-Mage gladly. I believe that not everyone in the Pagan communities can be a priest/priestess. Some would be great bards, others teachers, maybe a healer.....
I also learned to be more open and less strict in everything in my spiritual path. I knew that it would be impossible to follow the Celtic ways because of all the information lost over the years of persecution and hiding. There would be too much that I would never know. Also this would require me to be a little more accepting of others in their Pagan belief systems, as long as they show an honest focus on pagan beliefs without incorporating other beliefs and they don't try to impose it on others.
The Celts believe in the three realm concept and not the Greek concept of breaking everything into it's prime components. Also I am removing all ideas of tools having male or female aspects. I believe that there is both in all objects. The Celts honored men and women as equals, so I am not going to separate tools as either male or female. So I am reducing my sacred tools into my idea of the Warrior Mage. A total of 6 tools to use. The Mage would have athame to represent the Sky realm, wand to represent the sea realm, and a Celtic Cross to represent the Earth realm. The Warrior would have a Sword , staff, and Shield to represent their respected realms. I just got done painting my shield that I made 4 years ago. The shield would also work as my altar when I am outside performing a ritual. The other tools that are common in other pagan practices would still be used but not viewed as important.
As a Mage/Witch I would study the various forms of magic, and not focus on one specific type of magic. I would work with cord and candle magic, just as equally as I would research ritual magic. Now that I wouldn't be so focused as a community leader, I would focus on more personal matters and dabble more in herbs and tarot cards.
As the warrior, I would focus on discipline and tactics of warfare. Embracing the history and ideals of the warrior as well. This would require me to take on a more aggressive tone when defending what is more important to me and the Pagan community. Not all battles are fought with the sword and thus a strong mind is required. Most importantly there would be no animal sacrificing or any blood magic involved.
My demand with balance and the harsh reality stays intact. I will work in the shadows to deal with demands of life. Try to work in a positive way at all times, unless one is forced to stand against something.
I see so much advancement with this concept of mine, I have removed so many self-imposed limitations on myself in the past. I will be sharing more as my path is better detailed.
Take Care, Be at Peace...
