I first joined Contemplative Druidry as a facebook group, but by happy chance I moved to Stroud, which was the location for physical meetings, so about four years ago, I started going to those as well. It brought me into contact with many likeminded people locally. The monthly opportunity to sit in contemplation with others was a tremendously valuable experience. The habit of looking at where I am in my life and being witnessed in a held space has been good for me too.
Yesterday was the final session. It struck me how rare a privilege it is to close something with care and attention. How often the last time we do something, we only know in hindsight. Consciously and deliberately bringing something to an end, honouring its history, and letting it go is a beautiful thing to get to do, and very much in keeping with my experience of the group as a whole. I’m sad that we’re letting it go, but also in no doubt that it was the right call.
This was the last thing I did in a group that had a Druid label on it. I let go my Druid Network membership a while ago, I gave up volunteering for OBOD and I fell out of Druid Camp last year. I no longer have active membership of any Druid thing. In fact, the only thing I’m still doing that has the Druid label on it, is this blog.
For me, the group aspect of Druidry has always been key. Last time I found myself not involved in any Druid space, and asked what it meant to be a solitary Druid. A friend pointed out that what it makes me, is a hedge witch. The labels become irrelevant if you aren’t using them to connect with other people.
In the same timeframe as this last great putting down, I’ve had a lot of bardic opportunities come into my life. Last time I fell off the edge of Druidry, I was feeling really isolated as a consequence. This time, it is easier because there’s so much else going on – music, art, live performance, time with friends. The labyrinths will be my contemplative practice in coming months. I don’t feel lost or cut adrift, it’s just a shift in focus. Going back to the bard path feels like a good and right thing at the moment.
Everything has its time, it’s season. Recognising when something has run its course isn’t easy, but I think the whole process of the contemplative Druidry group has been a good one and I am proud to have been a part of it.
February 15th, 2017 at 12:07 pm
Thanks for this post, Nimue – and thanks for majorly contributing to the group throughout those years.
February 15th, 2017 at 12:14 pm
Reblogged this on contemplativeinquiry and commented:
Yesterday we closed down the Druid contemplative group in Stroud,, Gloucestershire, England launched in 2012. It’s not easy to judge the life-cycle of a group. In this case, people (including me) were beginning to move on in their various directions. We made an intentional ending at the right time. I celebrate that group, it’s members and its life, and take many riches with me.
February 15th, 2017 at 2:01 pm
Reblogged this on Elaine Knight and commented:
Endings and beginnings. Thanks for these thoughts Nimue.Bitter sweet farewelling.
February 16th, 2017 at 8:16 am
thank you.
February 15th, 2017 at 3:30 pm
“The end is where we start from.”
-T.S. Eliot
February 15th, 2017 at 8:35 pm
You must always follow your own gut feelings on the timing of such things. No one else can properly direct you.
February 16th, 2017 at 10:01 am
Really interesting post – thank you. I’ve struggled with labels for things because I’ve felt they would have put me in a box that I might not have been entirely comfortable with. I came to Druidry not via a pagan path, but just a natural line of enquiry – it felt right and natural for me. And yet, as excited and thrilled as I was to received the OBOD bardic course, I struggled to give myself the time and space to work through it. I bought a couple of books that helped and slowly my horizons opened up a little. Most recently, a tiny book ‘The Awen Alone’ has given me new light and hope for moving forward and considering and doing things my way, and that, ultimately is the right way – for me. Thank you.