DP through the wheel of the year- Week One

I'm going to try following the Through the Wheel of the Year Guide to keep me on track.  Since we attended the summer solstice ritual in June,  my plan is to start doubling up weeks until we reach Lughnasadh so that can be my second High Holy Day, which would make it Week 9 in the guide. Its ambitious but I think I can do it.

Week One Homework Questions:

1.  Why have you chosen to take the first steps on the Dedicant's Path?

I have chosen to take the first steps on the Dedicant's Path because I have always desired a structure to my spirituality, but have yet to find the truly right fit.  I didn't find it in Catholicism or Unitarian Universalism.  In Catholicism the dogma was too rigid, in UU the spirituality was too loose.  Attending an ADF ritual felt like the right fit, so I wanted to learn more.  After looking into ADF and the Dedicant's path is seems like it is a good mix- I get to control the path but there is a structure and guideline to follow.  I feel the call to dedicate myself to something beyond me and my family.

2.  Is this a step on your path, or will this become the path itself?

I hope that this will be just the beginning.  Looking into the future, I can see myself becoming involved in various guilds.  I'm hoping that this will give me the necessary background and foundation for druidry to be a core part of who I am.

3.  What do you expect to learn?

I expect to learn techniques for ritual.  I expect to learn the history of druidry and paganism, as well as the history of various hearth cultures.  I expect to become more familiar with the shining ones, their mythology, and how it impacts my world. 

4.  What would you like to get out of this journey?

I would like to develop a better understanding of my core values and beliefs.  I would like to develop a connection with a patron deity.  I would like to establish a daily devotional practice.  I want to develop a pattern for ritual that I can use on my own, with my family, and in a public setting.

5. Do you know where this path will take you?

I have hopes and ideas but I don't think I can really know where it is going to lead... and that is exciting. 

6.  If you have been in ADF for a long time, why are you starting now?

I only joined a few weeks ago. 

7. Does it look hard or easy?

It looks challenging. 

8.  Which requirements appear to be difficult to you know, and which appear to be easy?

The difficult requirements will be opening myself up to the inner work and the unknown, and particularly my fear of doing it wrong.  I'm not afraid of the scholarly requirements.  I actually miss being a student and in school so I think this will scratch that itch.

9.  Do you have doubts, questions, or concerns that you need to ask about?

My doubt is simply questioning whether I can stay focused with all the busyness that is my life... work, a toddler, a baby due in October, family obligations, etc.  But I am hopeful that the dedicant path and taking time to focus on my spirituality will keep me better prepared to handle all those other things. 

Pondering a daily devotional practice

I spent a good amount of time yesterday reading my copy of Our Own Druidry, which came in the mail on Friday.  Right now I'm just trying to take it all in, without really focusing on "doing."  My plan is to read it through once to get an overview and then begin actually working through it.  I had hoped that I might get a chance to meditate again in the evening but a certain two year's olds two hour bedtime left me a little cranky so I cuddled up and fell asleep to a tv show instead. 

This morning I got up and meditated and began to think about ways I could turn that morning meditation into a daily ritual.  I know that for me I need to start simply, a candle, a flower, a glass of water?  I may try to add elements into tomorrow. 

And now I hear the footsteps of said two year old a floor above me... so its time to stop typing and start our day. 

To begin

July 1 is a good day to get started.  I like to start new habits on the firsts of months because it feels like a clean slate. 

I've been a seeker for a very long time.  I grew up nominally Catholic, although we were never regular church goers.  I loved the ritual and mysticism of the Catholic religion, but the older I got the more I realized that it wasn't the right space for me... for many reasons but mostly because as a queer woman I knew I could never truly be accepted by the faith.  So I read and searched.  Paganism seemed like the right fit, but I never quite knew where to go with it.  I didn't know any other pagans... but I knew I could talk to trees, I knew I believed in multiple gods, I knew I respected and worshiped the natural world.   In college I tried again to go to mass, but it never felt like home.  After college I began attending Unitarian Universalist congregations, which aligned with my social and political beliefs but didn't have the magic that I knew must be out there in a spiritual community. So I've puttered along the last ten years hoping someday I would bump into the right fit.

Then my family and I decided, almost at the last minute, to attend a summer solstice ritual at a nearby ADF grove.  There was a children's ritual followed by the main ritual.  That was the initial draw for me, knowing that a group will welcome my two year old son makes me much more likely to give it a try. After the rituals was a potluck and some social time. 

It felt so right.  In many ways it felt like coming home.  I don't know yet if this is my forever spiritual home.  I don't think I could say that after one ritual... but when we got home (well actually in the car on the way home on my phone) I began looking into the larger ADF community and within a few days had signed up to become a member and began reading Our Own Druidry, the dedicant's path manual. I plan to dedicate this next year to the study of ADF druidry, and blog my way through to remember the struggles and breakthroughs.  I am looking forward to the journey.