Gods of my Ancestors,
The Dagda,
Herne,
Lugh,
Taltiu,
The Morrighan,
Rhiannon,
My most humble Thank you.
You have helped me
You have saved me
You have shown me that it is possible.
Thank you Mighty Ones.
My grattitude and honor know no bounds.
I bless and thank you again and again.
I will try not to mess this up.
–
Tarot readings by Daven!
http://davensjournal.com/Tarot.xhtml
As you know, I recently finished my gift up for Carl McColman and sent it off to him. I’m not going to brag on that agian, although I am rediculously proud of it. What I’m contemplating this time is the whole “Druid with a rosary” thing.
Catholicism and Druidism dovetail very well. It has always been known in most forms of Druidism that the way of the Gods of the Celts was not the only way. It is even hinted in some areas that there is a deity greater than they are, similar to the infinate regression of the Mormons.
We know the Tuatha de Dannan had Druids with them. This means that their Druids were probably serving the same function that Druids of the Celts fulfilled, namely that of serving the spiritual/magickal needs of the Tuatha de. But the god forms that contemporary Druids worship and honor (and “contemporary” in this case refers to those Druids that have actual non-mythic records on them) are the Tuatha de themselves. Therefore the big “huh???” moment is “Who did the Druids of the Tuatha de Dannan worship?”
Kinda a chicken/egg thing.
It is implied (and I can think of no references off hand, so don’t hold me to this) that there is a deity greater than all others that is the one that the Druids know of, but not one that is worshiped since it’s so very remote.
So, it is not outside the realm of possibility that there was a conversion of the Druids to Christianity when it was proposed by (for instance) Patrick. Some of it may have been politically motiviated, some of it may have been “convert or die”, but it is not outside the realm of possibility that there were some who saw the way of Christ and converted out of a belief in it.
Even those who didn’t convert, their ways did infect the incomming Christian church. A perfect example of this is Brigit/St. Brigid. Here you had a set of priestesses who attended the eternal flame ofBrigit, taking care of it and ministering to those who came. Christianity rolls in and the flame is extinguished, but the temple is taken over by women and it is made into an abbey. Now nuns live there, tending a flame to St. Brigid, an eternal flame.
So the ways of the Druids were shifted to fit within a paradigm of Christianity.
Speaking AS a Druid, I can see how the teachings of Christ would have fit into the Druid’s worldview. Not the Gnostic gospels, but the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those testaments and what is written there could have had a massive impact on the Druids of the time, showing that there is another way out there that is also a way of the Spirit. Some gnostic texts (from what I have been told of them) could also have fit in, like the Gospel of Thomas and now the Gospel of Judas.
I honestly believe that it is possible that if you took a Druid of the 400 CE time period, taught him modern languages, brought him forward to now, and dropped him in a Catholic Church in Ireland, that the Priest and he would get along swimmingly. There may be some cannonical differences (like the lack of women priests), but I think enough of the Druids survived to modern times thorugh the vehicle of the Catholic Church that it would be minimal conflict.
There is precident for this as well, look at all the hidden pagan influence in some of the books that were preserved by the medevial church in such things like the Book of Kells. I’ll be the first one to admit that there are portions that were deliberately re-written to fit with a Christian worldview, but I understand (from those who have studied these writings as I have not) that there are some hidden references as well.
So a Druid with a Rosary? I don’t think that a Druid would be out of place with a Rosary in any place. After all, a Rosary is a meditation tool, a way to help connect with the spiritual. Hazelnuts anyone?
Gods of my Ancestors,
Mighty ones whom I worship in my day
Ones who I love
Hear my plea!
While Love may be the greatest,
Money makes the world go ’round.
My family and I need cash
To survive and thrive.
Our car is breaking
It’s almost undrivable.
To get to and from work
To take my daughter to and from school,
To participate in those things I need to,
I have to have this vehicle.
The house needs repairs,
I need a home loan.
I ask and humbly beg You all
To help me in my hour of need.
I have done what I can
I have worked and I have sacrificed.
Things are to the wall and we will lose something
If help is not forthcoming.
Send me customers,
Send me book contracts.
Send me those who can give me what I need
It’s time for the Returns to Return.
You taught me not to trust the Lottery.
You taught me not to trust roommates.
You taught me that companies won’t take care of their own.
Let SOMEONE be honorable in this time.
Help me I pray Mighty Ones.
Mary and I were talking in bed, our last interaction of the day, and the topic turned to some of the problems we have had and overcome in our life.
It tied into the movie “Serenity” in which the main character (Mal) is a lot darker and a lot more desperate. At one point during the movie he’s talking to his Second in Command about the bare fact that if they don’t get money they don’t fly and don’t eat. It’s a moving piece of cinema, setting up the rest of the movie.
Having been there and done that, I was moved to say this:
“It’s easy to have morals when your belly is full. It’s keeping those morals and living up to them when you are near starvation that is the true measure of a person.” – Daven
Good quote.
Edited later to add: I say this because not too long ago I went to Wal-mart to get some gas. SAM’s club has a gas station and the Wal-Mart is next to it and could refil my gift card. I paid for $10 in gas, and when I got to the pump, I discovered that the kid running the register had put $100 on the card. I could have kept that $90, and I was REALLY tempted to do so. We needed the money. But, the kid would have come up $90 short in his register and that would have had him fired. I would have been dishonest, and I would have been a hypocrite. My daughter would have learned that it’s okay to steal if you really need it. So I took the money back.
It hurt to do so.
The kid in quesiton wasn’t impressed, and the managers were like “okay, fine, give us the money….” I was proud of myself and so was my wife. The few people who heard of it were like “wow…. I wouldn’t have done it.”
But it was the only honorable thing to do.
It’s easy to be honest when you have enough money for everything, and that was one of the hardest things I have ever done. That’s what prompted that quote.
I did have one lady say that the universe was trying to help me, and I slapped it in the face by taking it back and I should have kept it and I should be ashamed of myself. But in good conscience I couldn’t do anything else.
Well, I don’t know how much you pay attention to what I write in other locations, but I have a pair of articles that I’m putting up on a site called “The Juggler”.
It’s a collaborative Pagan themed blog, dealing with issues ranging from personal practice to bigotry to politics.
The blog itself can be found at http://thejuggler.blogspot.com
Right now my most recent contributions are a series on “Bunnyhunting”. A topic near and dear to my heart.
Have a good day everyone.
While on my webhost’s site (Drak.net for those of you keeping score), I saw this gem:
Visit davensjournal.com, hosted by DrakNet!
“It’s interesting to watch and to realize that someone I have never seen face to face, never talked to on the phone, gives me better customer service than the fast food joint down the street where I spend more of my money.”
It sounds like something I would say. And dang, that is eloquent….
