A chairde, Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir! Hello everyone and Happy New Year to you all!
I’m sitting here writing after Storm Darragh and all that came with it, looking out on my garden. The sky is a clear blue, and the sun is shining on the bare trees. Even with all this brightness, I’m aware we are heading towards the darkest time of the year and reflecting on how this contrast of light and dark is mirrored in the world today, how we, as Druids, work with contrasts and ambiguities and how we can hold polarities together; how we honour An Trí Bhís Mhór – Beatha, Bás agus Athbhreith, the Great Triple Spiral of Life Death and Rebirth; how despite all the pain and destruction in the world today we do not give up hope and we persist and we begin again. I love this quotation from Meister Eckhart: “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
We began again last December (2023) when we created a new tradition of holding our Gatherings in Strode Theatre, Street. While it was not the same as the Town Hall, and I know many of our members miss the old place, it offered a larger space with a café area and a greater sense of warmth. Our theme was Animism, and there were three wonderful presentations on this topic from Gordon McClelland, Lucy Jones and Graham Harvey. We had a beautiful Winter Ceremony in the grounds of Strode Theatre. It was quite magical as we processed to the site with a view of the Tor and a Trilithon, and we processed back to the theatre in the dark. This was the last Gathering Damh the Bard organised after over 20 years. This task is so huge that three people have replaced him. A big thanks, Damh!
We had two Druid Gorseddau this year, one in Cornwall in March and the other in Yorkshire in April. Again, the demand for places was high, so it was decided to hold three in 2025. For information, contact druidgorsedds@obod.org The European Druid Gorsedd was held in Germany in March and another one will take place in the coming year.
The second Bardic Gorsedd was held in Penmaenmawr, Wales and was very well-attended. For information about next year’s one, contact bardicgorsedds@obod.org
Bealtaine was marked by the launch of the Hearth. This is such a wonderful innovation for the Order. It took many years to bring this to fruition following suggestions from members to have our own space where we can connect and be free from advertising and the toxicity of Social media platforms. A special thanks to Matthew and his team for their dedication and skills in creating this platform. They continue to develop the Hearth, and I’m so impressed with how the capacity for connection and communication continues to grow. There are now
119 Circles on the Hearth; we have Druid TV, where you can access videos of workshops and interviews. Thanks to everyone who has signed up to the Hearth and for your support for this endeavour. Without your support, the Hearth cannot function. Everyone should have received an invitation email to sign up for the Hearth. If you have not yet checked in why not take a look inside? Thanks to the moderators Steve Hounsome and Bryan Flowers for their hard work.
This year marked the 60th anniversary of the Order, and we had a special celebration at our Summer Gathering in the Strode Theatre. We set things off with a Meet and Greet on Friday afternoon in the Avalon Club, Glastonbury, facilitated by the Sylvan Grove. Our Gathering began on Saturday morning with an Oak Ceremony held by Adrian Rook and JJ Middleway as a mirror to the Mistletoe ceremony held at the Winter Gatherings. There were three talks from myself, Ronald and Philip. Recordings of these talks can be found on Druid Cast. We broke with tradition when the Grove meetings were held with a focus on socialising. We held our Summer ritual in two places simultaneously – On the Tor and the grounds of Strode Theatre. This ensured accessibility and choice for our members. I was at the ceremony on the Tor, and one magical moment I’d like to mention was when Philip, the Bard of the Future and myself, representing the past, future and present of the Order, were standing together. Philip was in the shade, I was in partial shade, and as the Bard of the Future spoke, the sun burst out from behind the clouds. A wonderful portent for our future!
As usual, we had an amazing Eisteddfod. Seán Hayes has retired after many years as MC of the Eisteddfoddau. His humour and warmth will be sadly missed and we wish him well. Gary Llewellyn will take on the role of MC.
We honoured Penny Billington as Honorary Bard. Penny retired as editor of Touchstone at the end of 2023 after so many years of service. A big thank you! Andrew Anderson has taken up the mantle of Editor, and we wish him much success.
We had a Poetry in the Theatre on Sunday morning where four poets were invited to speak about their process: Penny Billington, Andrew Anderson, Lorraine Munn, and Joshua Ramey-Renk. This was followed by a workshop in break-out groups where the participants were invited to think of a Soul moment they had over the weekend and to write a three-line poem; the first line literal; the second line emotional; the third line spiritual/magical. People were invited to send their pieces to Andrew for Touchstone.
The Fringe started with an Open Mic session in the Assembly rooms, facilitated by Marcus Bollonius. The rationale for this was to have a space beyond the Eisteddfod for our members to share their Bardic skills. The response to this was so positive that we are going to continue to hold an Open Mic session on the Friday evening of our Gatherings. We had seventeen presentations in the Fringe in various venues in Glastonbury on Monday and Tuesday.
Thanks to our new Gatherings team: Tom Moxon, Marcella Dillon-Walshe and Lorraine Munn and to all those members who offered their help throughout the weekend.
This was the year for Mount Haemus. Due to the COVID pandemic in 2020, we were not able to host our four-yearly Mt Haemus Day. This left us with eight papers to be presented. We had two online Mt. Haemus presentations in May by our scholars RoMa Johnson: The Well and the Chalice, Michelle Le France: The Feminist Druid: Making Way for New Stories, Dana Driscoll: Channelling the Awen Within: An Exploratory Study of the Bardic Arts in the Modern Druid Tradition, and Larisa White: World Druidry: Seasonal Festivals in a Globalizing Tradition. Each presentation was followed by a breakout session to facilitate a social element to the evening.
In October, we held our Mt. Haemus Day in Glastonbury with presentations by Jonathan Woolley: The Elemental Forms of Druidic Life, Paul White: Discovering Meaning in Ireland: Megalithic Spiritual Experiences, Bill Bruen: Fallen Branches: Reconstructing the Lost Sage of Caswallawn ap Beli Mawr, and Philip Carr Gomm read for Susan Jones, who was not able to attend: What Druidry does: a perspective on the spiritual dynamics of the OBOD course. The event was held in the beautiful St. Benedict’s Church. Penny Billington began the proceedings with a most interesting history of St. Benedict’s. The presentations were punctuated with the wonderful music and songs of Honorary Bard Arthur Billington.
Our online ceremonies to mark the Wheel of the Year continue. Many thanks to the Groves and Seed groups who offer their service to hold these ceremonies. The response from members and non-members to these ceremonies is very positive. Thanks to OBOD Healer’s Circle Grove, Mystic River Grove, Cú Chulainn’s Belt, Sylvan Grove, South Devon & Dartmoor Grove, Wren’s Nest Grove, Chinook Hills Grove, Mentrix Grove. Our members in the Southern Hemisphere have started to hold online ceremonies again – Araras Seed Group, Treesong Forest Seed Group, and South Coast Seed Group. A special thanks to Stephen Barnes for his beautiful and creative invitation and thanks posters.
Our only Druid Mentor, Mary Spain, retired this year after over 30 years of service to the Order and sadly passed away a few weeks ago. I am sure many of our Druid grade members have fond memories of their communications with Mary. A memory I’d like to share is when I wrote to Mary expressing my anxiety about writing my Druid review, whether it would be good enough, how much to write, etc. Her response to me was: ’These are not the questions to ask yourself. The question is – Are you enjoying it?’ I was so reassured by her response, and it changed everything for me. I wrote my review, and I did enjoy writing it. Ar dheis na Déithe go raibh a hanam! This is a variation of an Irish blessing when someone passes, meaning May her soul sit at the right hand of the Gods(esses). Steve Hounsome and Jane Booth are now the Druid Mentors and Fi Ware is the Mentor Co-ordinator.
Tea with a Druid continues on Monday nights at 8pm UK, and Philip also hosts Biscuits with Druids on the Hearth afterwards. Fireside Chats with Eimear are broadcast on Thursday nights at 8pm for about 45 minutes, and then we move over to the Heath for a more intimate chat. Druidcast is now on episode 209. If you haven’t been able to watch them live, recordings of the Teas, Chats and DruidCast can be found on the Order’s OBOD YouTube channel and on the Hearth.
David Bramwell’s Series 3 of Adventures in Nutopia podcast, which is sponsored by OBOD, went live in October this year. If you enjoyed series one and two, you will be fascinated by the range of topics covered, from Randomness, Consciousness, and Intelligence and David’s quirky and brilliant way of dealing with these subjects.
Members activities:
The Building Resilience for Hard Times listening circle continues to be held on the first Wednesday of the month at 7pm UK. Details can be found in the OBOD Deep Listening Circle on the Hearth. John King facilitates the Death Café on the 3rd Wednesday of every month, details in the Death Café circle on the Hearth. The Mental Health Group meets every month where we have a presentation and break-out discussions on a topic. About twelve members of the MHG attended the Eurotas Transpersonal Psychology conference in Oxford in September. The Order was one of the sponsors and we had our own desk, which served as a meeting point for those of us who attended. Philip, Hari Sams, and Zoë Meerburg presented papers at the conference. The Healer’s Circle held online Healing rituals in April and December.
Seán Ó’Gaoithín and I held the Bioróg Retreat in Donegal in June, and all the participants were OBOD members. It was great to share the story of Bioróg, the little Druid woman who features and plays a key role in the Battle of Moytura in Irish Mythology within the magical landscape where the story takes place.
I was invited to take part in the Bealtaine Festival at Uisneach, the sacred centre of Ireland. I was accompanied by OBOD members Adrian Rook, Matt McCabe, Pete Ball (Bodger) and JJ Middleway.
There were three camps in Europe. Adrian Rook, JJ Middleway and I were invited to Mt. Thunder Camp Germany in August. The camp was held near a castle on a hill where Richard the Lionheart stayed on his way back from the Holy Land. I attended the OBOD Druid Camp in Molise, Italy, in June. Sowing the Seeds of Intention Druid Camp Autumn Equinox Gathering was held in Belgium in September. The first OBOD camp in Canada – Alberta Druid Camp, was hosted by the Chinook Hills OBOD Grove in June. In the USA, the
Gulf Coast Gathering was held in Louisiana in March; MAGUS: OBOD-AODA Co-gathering in May; BAM and DOOR in September in the USA.
The Community Cloak is still travelling around the world weaving its story and it comes back to the Strode Theatre for the Summer and Winter Gatherings, where members are invited to add their own creative stitches.
The OBOD Inner Journeying and Ritual weekends with Penny Billington, Matt McCabe and Gary Llewellyn will be held again in April and September 2025.
Our members and friends continue to publish books on Druidry and related topics. I hope I have not left anyone out:
Time for Magic: A Shamanarchist’s Guide to the Wheel of the Year by Jamie Reid, Philip Carr-Gomm, Stephen Ellcock & John Marchant
Encounters with Mermaids|: Lessons from the Realm of the Water Elementals by William R Mistele
The Turning of the Wheel of the Year: Celtic Mythology, Nature and the Quest for the Soul by Mike Wilson
Sacred Bones, Magic Bones: Stories from the Path of the Bones by Ness Bosch
Folklore Rising: An Artist’s Journey through the British Ritual Year by Ben Edge
Mount Haemus Lectures Volume 3
The Shrine Way by Jim Hindle
The Crowdfunder for The Ogham Card Game by Yannick of Forestheart, Anna Richardson from Children’s Forest, The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids and Oak Tree Press.
The Vedic Tarot: East Meets West by the Order’s Patron Dwina Murphy-Gibb
Bee Tarot by Kristoffer Hughes, Art by Nadia Turner
I will end with a poem from one of my favourite poets:
“Begin”
Begin again to the summoning birds
to the sight of the light at the window,
begin to the roar of morning traffic
all along Pembroke Road.
Every beginning is a promise
born in light and dying in dark
determination and exaltation of springtime
flowering the way to work.
Begin to the pageant of queuing girls
the arrogant loneliness of swans in the canal
bridges linking the past and future
old friends passing though with us still.
Begin to the loneliness that cannot end
since it perhaps is what makes us begin,
begin to wonder at unknown faces
at crying birds in the sudden rain
at branches stark in the willing sunlight
at seagulls foraging for bread
at couples sharing a sunny secret
alone together while making good.
Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.
— From The Essential Brendan Kennelly
Go n-éirí síocháin is suaimhneas libh go léir! Literally – May peace and tranquillity rise with you all!
