Winter Solstice has just passed and again the wheel turns. This is an important time of new beginnings for those who follow the Wheel of the Year celebrations of Druidry. We call the Winter Solstice various names, but Alban Arthan is what many Druids who practice with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) will call it. It means ‘The Light of Arthur’, as in King Arthur, who is such an important character in the mythology of the British. I see Arthur as the sword-bearer – the one who must weigh up all the information at hand to make a decision, yes, or no, this or that, deciding the way forward down one path or another. At some points in our lives, decisions must be made.

For the last few years, our group, The Blue Mountains Grove, has set a new intention for ourselves at this turning point in our lives. We acknowledge that decision-making moment by choosing our path forward for the solar year. This time of winter is a time of rest, followed by Spring where we gather in ideas and start to build, Summer when our ideas are maturing and fleshing out, and Autumn when we bring everything together into form and begin to see the fruits of our labours.

The first year we did this we decided to visit eight locations in our area that have come to represent the seasonal connections for us. The Wheel of the Year is made up of eight festivals which correspond to eight directions. Inspired by Jane Meredith’s book Circle of Eight, we decided to place the centre of our circle at the Katoomba Community Gardens where we usually meet. On our first meeting we went to the South, to the Three Sisters and Echo Point, Then at Imbolc, we went to the South East, to Lincoln’s Rock, and again to other locations at each of the directions. There we listened and meditated with the space and looked for significant animals and plants that spoke of the seasonal change. In this way, through the year, we got to know our local area better and again we came back to the winter solstice.

The second year we decided to run a series of eight workshops where we discussed different aspects of ritual and Druidry practice. We began with how to write an Acknowledgement of Country, and moved on to the Spirits of Place, Prayer and Ritual forms, the Elements, The ancestors and more. It was great to help the group to feel more confident in these parts of what we do, and to explore them together through ritual practice aligned with the season.

This year we are planning on working with the OBOD rituals that are provided by the order and adjusting them to suit our local landscape and environment. Working in Australia as we do, there is a necessity for our rituals to not be exactly the same as they are in Britain, or even other parts of this continent, as the landscapes are diverse. For many years our rituals have taken on an unscripted form where we value speaking from the heart and making our rituals different each time we meet. But after many years of doing this and developing our own style of ritual, we feel it would be good to now revisit the OBOD rituals to see how our own practice and these rituals of the order can combine in ways that really speak to our experience.

It has taken me years to do this. I started learning with OBOD in 2009 and have rarely felt drawn to working with the provided rituals. Perhaps it was because I had a grounding in a different form of ritual from before I joined, but it was also a deep desire to just listen to the land here and not place expectations upon it with the use of a scripted ritual. You can read more about my opinions about this in my book Australian Druidry, or in other blog posts I have shared, such as The Art of Ritual. Now, however, I feel ready to look at those rituals more closely as I understand now what fits and what does not, what needs to change and what can stay the same.

As this year turns, we will experience each of the rituals in a new way – one that combines these original forms with the voice of the spirits of this place. And as we come again back to the Winter Solstice of Alban Arthan next year, we will see what paths we will come to in the following year. It is always an inspiring journey through the wheel of the year.

Photo credit: Colter Olmstead on Unsplash