#obod

[skeletorswaifu]

My Experience with OBOD

Hello! A long long time ago in a galaxy far awaaaay... I said that i would have updates about the lessons ive been taking from OBOD, Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids.

Heres my take.

I think druidry is fascinating. I think i am going to stick to nature/Earth based spirituality because it is something i feel deeply connected to. However, I will not be taking the Ovate or Druid course from OBOD.

I believe they mean well, and some of the lessons are informative, if not just telling me things i already knew.

HOWEVER, there is a big emphasis on spending money. Especially when it comes to buying land or making a pilgrimage to stonehenge or other places thought to have druidic origins.

I feel like OBOD is unfortunately run by people who might never have had to experience poverty or had to worry about making rent. They talk often about changing your fiscal ways and habits to become more attuned to a spiritual or true self.

I by no means, have the money to run out and buy land. Especially not with a seed group of people I hardly know. I do not have the means to fiscally downgrade, there's nowhere for me to cut costs. My husband and i live with room mates and have two teenagers to look after now.

I believe respecting the land I'm currently on and its native people and trying my hardest to be green is good enough. I will continue to honor the land spirits and try to connect to the Earth in my own way.

I think if you have the economic means, that OBOD would be a wonderful group to be apart of. That if you have the time and you feel pulled to Druidry, that OBOD is not the worst group to join. They are open minded, inclusive, and even lean towards feminine divine.

But in the long run, i think i could have learned all of the same things from general research instead.

Thank you to OBOD for teaching me all that you have. It was fun, interesting, and I DID learn new things. The classes are simple, sweet, to the point. The poetry and songs are wonderful. It brings joy knowing there is a druid course that people can look into and learn from.

I just wish it wasn't so heavily monetarily involved and run by so many older white people. I get enough of that from my own government.

Much love, Jess.

[divinationdrawings]

Let me tell you a tale of the swan prince and princess Two young lovers by the name of Caer Ibormeith and Aengus He searched the globe to find her and she sent him dreams Yet when he laid eyes upon her he found she is not all she seems She turned into a bird and looked up at him with deep black eyes And so he made himself a swan as well, and swam off with her into the sunrise

This celtic tale is thought to be a basis for many swan tales including Swan Lake and The Swan Princess, but finding hard evidence for this is difficult as many swan tales exist. as always I encourage you to do your own research.

Caer Ibormeith is a goddess of dreams and prophecy, and she marries the god of beauty and youth Aengus Og after they "fly off together in the form of a pair of swans." Source: The Dictionary of Celtic Mythology by James MacKillop.

[bardicspirit]

ᖭི༏ᖫྀ fairy garden

[strickenspirit]

I was really upset by the news of the Sycamore Gap Tree in Northumberland. Though we are miles upon miles away, I said goodbye through a drawing on an old book page 🍂

[cottageshadowwitch]

I finally managed to change my altar to represent Imbolc.

I felt well enough to say a prayer to Apollo, ask for his guidance, and also did a little "I grow" ritual. That piece of paper has now been burned to ash.

Now it's time for dinner and a huge cup of tea to recharge.

At a later day I might do OBOD's ritual as well - if I remember to look for the video on YouTube and feel called to do so. I don't connect to a lot of the rituals if they call upon deities I simply don't work with or I feel like there is a heavy focus on binary genders and/or (sexual) fertility.

[omnistpilgrim]

[re-wilding-almaguin]

Initiation

Today for the first time i finally felt ready to actually perform my initiation and enter the bardic grade formally, I have been putting it off for the last several weeks as my mind has been in turmoil with a number of personal issues. i awoke this morning finally ready to accept my life for what it is and work towards finding the balance i crave both within myself and with the rest of the world.

Having completed the ceremony i feel a sense of peace that has always been difficult for me to capture. i have also come to a decision regarding my path as a bard, while i have dabbled in a few different areas of the arts my truest love has always been cooking and not only being able to express myself through the dishes i create but working to create balance between all the ingredients i bring together bringing the harmony that i want to see in the world onto a plate.

[thehazeldruid]

Fairly certain I’ve lost this necklace.

Definitely need to find it again.

[paracawsal]

So i'm close to halfway through with my bardic grade work and i'm not gonna lie, i'm only sort-of connecting with it. I basically joined to get to the ovate grade, which i'm still interested in, but at this point I have next to no interest on moving onto the druid grade.

The main thing I have learned/realized is that, while I do love the seed group i'm part of, and have genuinely enjoyed reworking our rituals, etc, to fit the needs of our group (very much not celtic soup), i'm definitely more of a polytheist than anything else. I mainly enjoy being dedicated to my goddess, and having a more solitary spirit-based practice. However, she wants me to do oracular work for whatever reason, so here i am. Can't really do that alone.

And like, I'm a november scorpio, aries rising, would not call myself a lightworker, and i'm definitely struggling with that part of the coursework. From what i've heard the ovate grade goes deeper so... at least theres that. I don't work with fertility at all so that's lost on me. And yeah, there's the celtic soup-ification of it all. I know a lot of the program is a product of its time (the 80s) but still. That doesn't mean I have to like it or agree with it.

Anyway. Could be better, could be worse. It's nice to have some structure to my practice, at least.

[terrible-titles]

I recently started the Obod bard course on druidry and would love to find people actively posting about druidry to follow. You don’t have to identify as a druid, but just be curious about it, or even paganism in general, and discuss it on your blog. I don’t mind some visually aesthetic content (in fact, I quite like it!) but I do like a mix of written content in there as well. I’m not a pinterest-y type person--my favorite types of blogs allow me to read about other people’s journeys and the wisdom they’ve found.

If that sounds like you, please feel free to like this post so I can check out your blog. Also, feel free to reach out if you’d like! I’d love to find people to chat with.  

[morbranshoodoo]

Hávamál 78

I saw big herds of cattle

owned by a rich person’s children;

Now they carry a beggar’s staff.

Wealth is like

the twinkling of an eye—

no friend could be more faithless.

Fullar grindr

sá ek fr Fitjungs sonum;

nú bera þeir vánar vǫl.

Svá er auðr

sem augabragð—

hann er valtastr vina.

[skeletorswaifu]

I'm gonna do it. I'm signing up for the bardic course. Any suggestions/advice/study tips?

[harbinger-broth]

I've been very focused on the fact that I've been around pagans and druids since i was born. that my mother is a priestess and has hosted workshops alongside John Michael Greer, a previous archdruid of the AODA. How my parents started a grove, and were very involved in my local community when it came to druids, ovates, and bards.

but here's the thing:

it doesn't matter.

whether you are new to druidry or have been raised with these beliefs drawn into your skin by your mother's soft grass scented hands. we were born into this universe, and we all have our own paths to carve out. those new to the concept have theirs, and while I may have been shown many maps of other's paths, my own will still need to be carved by me. my own path has only really very recently begun.

there is a phrase amongst thru hikers that iI think can be applied here. "hike your own hike." I'm no better or worse than anyone else on the path, particularly because there is no one way to do druidry. hike your own hike. walk your own path. connect with others. you are standing in the same soil whether you know it or not. bridge the gap. connect. love one another.

at the end of the day, I am new to this. I am only just getting past my shins into the waters of druid practice. Someone who found out about modern druidry two weeks ago can absolutely be at the exact same depth as me. and could maybe even be further along. That is okay.

I have nothing to prove. I just have to be.

we all do.

[haloquin]

Being Bardic at Druid Camp 2023

(Before I tell you where I’ve been let me just bounce excitedly about my debut single, Red Goddess, Come – out this week. Listen here! ) It’s been a few years, as one would expect, since we’ve gathered at Druid Camp, and this year it returned to the world in a Welsh venue not too far from me. Pembrokeshire was very wet, but that’s rather the price we pay for such a gorgeous green land. Druid…

[darachinis-blog]

Wedding ceremony. ❤️ Just a druid at work... 🧙🏻‍♂️🔥🥰 Blessings! Emrys /|\ 📷 Fot. Jacek Poniewierka #druidry #wedding #pagan #obod #weddingceremony #heathens #weddingphotography #sorcerer #ritual #ritualmagick #magician #magiccommunity #magia #handfasting #poganie #druidyzm #druidrypath #witchy #witchcraft #druidsofinstagram #ovate #ślub #folkmagic #celticpagan #slavic #slubneinspiracje #slavicpagan #olsztyn #iława #rytuał (w: Olsztyn, Poland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkjDwGWr5TJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=