Pagan Portals - The Awen Alone
But just what is awen? It is an awareness, not just on a physical and mental level, but also on a soul-deep level of the entirety of existence, of life itself. It is seeing the threads that connect us all. It is the deep well of inspiration that we drink from, to nurture our souls and our world and to give back in joy, in reverence, in wild abandon
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we are to view it as a whole, then we must truly see every part that we also play within it. If the whole of nature has a spirit, then issues arise such as the taking of a life for food. Many within Druidry are vegetarian, if not vegan, and yet there are still others who eat the flesh of animals.
Joanna van der Hoeven • Pagan Portals - The Awen Alone
Being a Druid is about taking responsibility for one’s actions, as well as for one’s environment.
Joanna van der Hoeven • Pagan Portals - The Awen Alone
Our ancestors of blood are those who normally come to mind first. We think of our family trees, spanning back hundreds of years. Yet our ancestors of blood are also those who are still alive, and those of our blood who have yet to come. Our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles are all ancestors of blood. Also, our ch
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We may choose to see Druidry as a religion, with deity concepts, or see it as a philosophy, and leave deity out of it.
Joanna van der Hoeven • Pagan Portals - The Awen Alone
The air that we breathe is also the air our ancestors breathed 50, 100, 1,000 years ago. It is also the air that the willow, alder and yew trees exhaled 50, 100 or 1,000 years ago. The wasp breathes in the same air, the grasses and wildflowers exhaling into the deepening twilight. We can relate to our environment by simply remembering how to breath
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It is not a time for standing defiant against the cycles of darkness in nature, but a time of celebrating them, honouring the darkness for the chance to rest and remembering the really important things in life.
Joanna van der Hoeven • Pagan Portals - The Awen Alone
Later sources mention Druids after the Christianisation of Britain and Ireland, written mostly by Christian monks – again hostile to the pagan Celts.
Joanna van der Hoeven • Pagan Portals - The Awen Alone
With old habits and patterns of behaviour that we wish to be freed from, we can simply ask this question over and over again until we have the answer that is required for spiritual growth.