I was one of the organisers at the recent Southern Hemisphere Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (SHOBOD) Assembly in Newcastle, Awabakal Country, so the lead up to my Druid Initiation at the event was a flurry of planning meetings, moving gear, setting up and performing rituals, and helping the Bards and Ovates with their initiations. I hardly had a moment to consider what was coming up for me, but just before the ritual, I took some time for a bit of quiet contemplation by myself. Someone snapped a photo of me as I walked towards the she oaks on the edge of the lagoon. I sat on a bed of she oak needles, surrounded by a grove of their singing windharps, and watched as a goanna moved past me in the long grasses.

Goanna is “wirriga” in Dharug language which is one of the languages where I live in Dharug and Gundungurra Country. Here though, I don’t know the name. I am reminded, however of the words in the song shared with us by Uncle Amos at the beginning of the weekend. I couldn’t remember the words at the time, but I Uncle Amos sent them to me since and said we can share them. I remember that place, that moment, and say it now. I remember the goanna: kaayi, hello. Nhunda kumba kumba muurung marai, thank you good spirit. I remember how held by the Earth we felt there in that beautiful place: nhunda kumba kumba Tunkaan, thank you Mother (Earth). I think of the valley, the lagoon, the beach, the hills: nhunda kumba kumba Pillapay-kullaitaran, thank you Glenrock Reserve. Awabakal Country is a beautiful place. I pay my deepest respects to the Elders of that place, to Uncle Amos from Worimi Country who, with local permission, led us in Acknowledging Country and taught us the Awabakal words in his song, and to the First Nations community there. I’m so grateful to have been able to have my Druid initiation there.

Goanna tells me to be quiet and patient, cautious but also courageous when the time is right. She is hard to see in the grasses as her spotted colouring is like a camouflage outfit of dappled deep green and lemon yellow. She passes by and I am left to sit and think about the ritual to come and what it means to me.

For those who might not be familiar, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids is an organisation that offers learning in three grades of Bard, Ovate and Druid. When we enter a grade we are able to take both an individual and group initiation. The individual initiation we do alone, with the coursework to guide us. For the group initiation, two Druid grade members are required. There aren’t a great number of Druid grade OBODies in NSW, so we often have to wait for a larger gathering like an Assembly in order to have one, or travel interstate to one of the larger groups – and we haven’t had one in Australia since 2018. I’m grateful also, that the Druid grade members have come from around the country today, to help me with mine. Some from Victoria, some from Queensland, some from South Australia, and one from New South Wales. It’s a beautiful passing on of an experience, and I look forward to being able to pass it on to others myself one day too.

I can’t tell you about the initiation itself. If you were to follow the same path of learning, it would be a shame to give away anything about the experience. I will tell you how I feel now though, afterwards, as a Druid. More than anything, I feel whole. I feel like I have come back to myself, and found something I always knew I always was anyway, but now, something about that ritual process; that gathering together of the self through it; that affirmation of being; there, in that, I’ve found a contentment, peace, wholeness, and harmony I feel I’d been looking for for a long time.

Since then I have been feeling a deep contentment with life, and with the simplicity of being. I’ve also been trying to wrap my head around a concept so alien to the capitalist consumerist world we live in – the idea that bigger, better, more isn’t always the answer. It can be so simple, yet so difficult to explain at times. Society often tells us we should be constantly looking to increase, gain, strive, acquire, as though the greedy pull of having more and more will quench something in us. But so often this focus on material gain forgets to consider the value of refining and maintaining what we already have. It’s like the difference between quantity and quality. We can amass piles and piles of “stuff” but if it is all cheap junk with no meaning or quality, it won’t bring us the happiness we’re seeking in acquiring it. What brings us joy is sometimes letting go of that need for more, and just working on finding a way of being that we can enjoy maintaining. There’s so much peace and contentment available in that, if we can find a way to let go of that urgent need to grasp at things.

That said, I am also feeling more inspired than ever to work on some projects I have been wanting to do for years. Perhaps it has balanced these in me – a feeling of contentment perhaps breeds in us a creative impulse? It’s letting go of that urgency that actually allows space to be created, and makes way for ideas to flow more easily, without restraint. I’m reminded of Marie Kondo as I mention finding joy in simplicity and letting go of excess. I think that philosophy is related (though I will never fold all my clothes!). The peace of mind found in tasks that help us to make space in our world – whether it’s cleaning up the house, or taking time to meditate, walk or just be – there’s a magic there that opens us up to something greater, to Awen, inspiration. I’m enjoying how this Druid initiation has dropped me into that.

Perhaps it’s also the peace that comes after finishing a big project like running an Assembly too? the flurry of activity over the last few months has been released with the chants of cascading Awens at the end of the gathering, and left us with a great deal more space and time in our lives, full of potential for something new. I’m just enjoying the peace before another project begins to form. Either way, I am very grateful to have had the experience, to have found that peace and contentment, and have very much enjoyed all of the OBOD courses.

This is not a sponsored blog. I am just a member of the Order who wanted to share my experience and gratitude. If you’d like to learn more about OBOD’s courses, they’re at www.druidry.org.

If you’d like to know more about my own kind of Druidry, my books Australian Druidry, and Belonging to the Earth, are available here via my jewelry website: www.forestspiritjewelry.com/australiandruidry or at your local bookstore. In them I discuss ways that courses like the OBOD grades can be adjusted to better suit the Australian landscapes, animals and plants, local histories, diverse cultural backgrounds, and other local issues.