A Calling

      A few days ago, I began to seriously look into Modern Druidry as a possible spiritual expression for myself. Having struggled for years to find my place in the Pagan world, most recently exploring witchcraft as a "hearth witch", it began recently to dawn on me that perhaps witchcraft was not exactly the road I wanted to travel. There were elements I loved, many that I ignored, and some that just seemed to rub me wrong. I began to see in my minds eye a different vision, which I could barely even explain to myself. I was remembering a book I once read, well known in the Pagan community, "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley which was one of the pieces of literature that drew me strongly towards Paganism as a teen. This book revolved around the ancient pre-Christian world of Druidry in Britain.  What about Druidry? I had nearly forgotten about it in the years since I'd read the book and begun a search for my True Path through this life. Thus I found myself back at the beginning, of sorts. I began Googling. One of the first sources for information on Modern Druidry that I found was the website for the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD), and after devouring the information available there, I subscribed to their podcast. I was, and am, entranced. There is a sense of coming home that I feel to the very core of my being. 
       A friend of mine and traditional witch mentioned today that I should do a divination to help reveal whether or not I should embark on the three year teaching course that the OBOD offers (which I am most drawn to after looking at several courses offered by other organizations) and to perhaps find a sign that this is the journey I need to take at this time.
       An hour later, as I rode the bus home, I was listening to the second half of episode two of Druidcast. It was an interview with Will Worthington-- an artist that has painted illustrations for two Druid oracle card sets- one on Druid animals and one on Druid plants. About 2/3 of the way through the interview, I realized that the oracle deck they were discussing is one that I purchased over a year ago, that I chose without giving much thought to its Druidic nature- at the time I remember that I simply liked the focus on plants.  Here it was, being mentioned on a podcast affiliated with the very organization I was being drawn to, and it was in fact written by the current chief of that organization. I came home and immediately grabbed my deck from the bookshelf. Sure enough, it was The Druid Plant Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gom and illustrated by Will Worthington. The answer had been in front of my face for so long; it had just taken me a while to see it. I sat down and did a reading. All the cards pointed very clearly to a return to my deep ancestral and spiritual roots from ages past; they reminded me of how disjointed I've felt for some time, how I've yearned to find my connection to the web of life. The common theme running through the cards was connection and wholeness of being. If Druidry will help me to find the connection between all the aspects of my life as well as the web of life surrounding me, can unify the inner and outer aspects, and I believe it will, then that is the path I must follow.