Tea with a Druid 306: Climbing out of our boxes!

Join a worldwide community of like-minded people interested in nature-based spirituality for a weekly exploration of a spiritual topic and a meditation. Live every Monday at 8pm UK time. Learn more about the Druid community and training at https://www.druidry.org To find all the Tea with a Druid meditations on the ‘Yewtube’ Outdoor Woodland Cinema, go to: https://zodogo.com/yewtube/ The music used in the opening title is ‘Druid Circle’ by Charlie Roscoe. Photo: Stapleford Park.

e [Music] [Music] oh [Music] hello hello everyone this is Philip kgam this is tea with the Druid brought to you by the order of BS 08s Druids every Monday at 8 p.m uh UK time lovely to see you somebody from Brazil Georgia um I suppose that could be to it could be Georgia in the United States or it could be Georgia in um uh EAS in Europe uh Italy Colombia um Southern Germany Finland um another Italy Oklahoma U fantastic Barbados hooray Madrid yes reinbach in Germany Nova Scotia and Canada uh Ukraine keev hello hello Plymouth Um mountains of South Oregon uh Denmark lap yes uh northamptonshire East Tennessee Italia Florence Washington State Lincolnshire all these Wonder each word you know when I say these words they each sort of evoke a whole range of images and colors and flavors and sounds even Athens in Greece London Michigan California mulvin uh hengoed in South Wales the Danish border of Germany Southeastern Pennsylvania fantastic great great and will’ll welcome everybody we’re all arriving from different corners of the world from every direction north south east and west to gather here in this circle already there are about 200 of us here in the circle and gradually it’s building as we speak so let’s just take a moment um here we are middle of May 13th of May in and in the northern hemisphere that means we’re moving from uh belane towards the summer solstice and there uh been certainly where where we are there’s been this wonderful feeling of Summer coming it’s dropped back a bit today but Summer’s on its way the blossom is everywhere the flowers are everywhere it’s smelling wonderful and then in the southern hemisphere you’re moving from uh s uh where are we belan um I have to yeah s to the winter solstice so you’re moving towards the winter whole different feeling so just there are three in um in traditional Chinese medicine and Confucianism and sodism there’s people talk about the three dantian the three cauldrons you find this in the duid tradition as well the three quadron depicted on the on the body uh and in the chakra system you have a sort of correlation as well although there are more chakras there’s a sense there’s some chakras here and then you have around the heart area and then around the the belly um just which which cauldron is alive for you tonight if you just tune in are you centered in your heart here do you think does your mind or attention naturally go down to your belly or or does it naturally go to your head just tune in for a moment and then maybe you’d like to just type in where where where your where your you feel your awareness is mainly located um and heart centered heart belly head uh the old fat guy what does he say centered in my heart today um belly head heart rooted heart cauldron heart belly uh but I did just eat yes yeah uh clearly the heart head heart um well um gosh it’s going too fast I can’t read it so ears somebody’s in their ears hey uh head um head head head tummy tummy H heart heart mind and soul here belly head centered belly head head head belly belly head head head great fantastic um right root chakra grounded and alive I can’t really pick one it’s cycling that’s interesting yeah in my gut today uh in my head body too tired after the exhaust we can doesn’t it sometimes we Retreat into our head don’t we and you s tune into your body and it’s feeling so tired you sort of go whoops no I don’t think I’ll do that I’ll I’ll stay here um so thank you well it’s it’s just lovely to see every third eye somebody’s in their third eye uh two people in their heart three people in their heart yeah fantastic [Applause] great I think it’s time for us I’ve got to stop reading you everything you’re saying it’s crazy it’s so distracting uh I think it’s time we went into a meditation maybe let’s see if we can do a different way of meditating I’m absolutely winging this and flying by the seat of my pants because I haven’t planned to do this at all but what really what really interests me is is resistance it’s always interesting when something is a little difficult there’s a little bit of resistance and it’s easier not to do it it’s easier not to pick up the phone it’s easier not to confront the person it’s easier not to uh make the effort to get exercise it’s easier not to make um the healthy choice and so on and so on so it’s very interesting like what is is is pushing uh against this and and so for instance for meditation I think you know because uh I I feel this I’ll just own this myself I’m I’m a sociable be I like chatting I like being with people I like conversing so I have to make this little bit of effort to go inside some days it’s easier some days it’s harder but just to make the effort to drop in so let’s not hurry that let’s just notice for yourself as I suggest the fact that we’re going to do a meditation just see how you feel does does a part of you go yes let’s go for it does a part of you say do we have to just maybe maybe I don’t know that that’s um but who who knows I don’t know I’d be I’d be interested who has a listen who has a resistance to to dropping inside to going into a meditation does anybody experience that yes says Paso Pedro uh Michelle says yes Andrew says yes Nicola says yes Kate says absolutely yes Georgia says yes I’m not mad and on my own um do we have to yes exactly so there’s so and the thing is we can we can the other thing is I I have um I always put it down to ADHD that’s interesting yeah on occasion but not today I needed a bit difficult yes always so difficult to let go of the to-do list rattling on in my brain no uh yes yes um busy neurod Divergent mind doesn’t like being still me too none whatsoever go for the meditation says benoa okay Manuel benoa okay uh so lovely I prefer to be inside so different different views so if you’re of the persuasion or if you’re feeling right now a resistance to it let’s let’s play with that and then just drop allow ourselves to close our eyes or to make that change in attention and awareness and to say yes let’s have a little bit of meditation and sometimes even the word meditation we don’t really need let’s just have a different experience let’s have a internal experience an internal experience that opens out in an interesting way and the easiest way to do this is to Simply perform the magic of closing our eyes because when we close our eyes millions of bits of information stop traveling into the cortex you don’t have to if you don’t want to you can what’s do as known as softening The Gaze which is not sort of staring intently but just relaxing your eye muscles and just sort of gazing down a little bit perhaps but not really focusing too hard so you soften the gaze or you close your eyes and then let’s take a deep breath in hold for a moment and then a deep breath out becoming aware now of our surroundings sensing where we are and an interesting question to ask ourselves am I kind of seeing in my mind’s eye the room I’m sitting in some people can do that clearly they have a kind of a sense internal visual sense they can see there or do I just know there’s this knowing that I’m sitting in my room opposite my screen and and and I sense it I can feel it if if you want if that’s your response yeah no I can’t really see anything uh but I I know I’m in my room I can sense my room just let’s take a little time that to what is that say how do you know how do you know in a felt sense of course you know intellectually that you’re sitting in front of your screen right now in your room but how do you sense it okay so whatever whatever it is whether you’re just getting very subtle Impressions or or whatever just allow yourself now to imagine that your room is opening out just like a cardboard box that that where the wall of the Box just fall away and kind of dissolve and the top of the box Falls away as well just dissolves and you’re hearing a clearing a clearing in the forest with a whole bunch of people and we’re all kind of becoming aware of the fact that we’re sitting together in this place is clearing in the woods and there’s a kind of sense of surprise a look of joy and surprise and recognition and of amusement in the fact that we we’re all finding ourselves sitting here in this place there’s a little fire burning in the center of our Circle there plenty of room for us and these big tall trees around us and we can smell the forest feel we can feel the forest and it’s all a bit overwhelming really all this sense of all these people sitting in this circle say so let’s let’s now imagine that we’re closing our inner eyes and we’re just going in second down we’ve already done this once now we’re going in again dropping down again dropping into the experience to feel the Earth beneath us and this is interesting because we can expand our awareness out into the Earth it’s like see if you can be aware of all the Earth you might wonder how you can do this how come I’m doing this because like I don’t have any boundaries I’m just as all this Earth and I can sense the moisture and the wetness and all these creatures in the Earth all the my celal connections and The Roots and the creatures the rocks and minerals and my awareness can include can spread out around under this Earth through this Earth and can include the roots of the trees and I I’m aware of all these roots of these trees all kind of linked up together and all alive and I’m tuning in now to the tons of water that are traveling up these roads the vast quantities of water gallons of water that are traveling up from the soil up the trunks so my awareness is moving up to the horizontal above the earth now and I can sense all the trees around me standing like Sentinels around me around us as our group a tremendous sense of safety of protection and of presence tremendous presence around us of these trees these beings that are able to be still and standing here and there are their branches and leaves and there is the sky above and you breathe bre in deeply now as you breathe in the sky see if you can have that expansive feeling of just being the sky wide and vast and blue and with white clouds and breathing in in the sky and it’s traveling down all that energy into your body all this Sky energy vitalizing your body meeting the energy of the earth within the center of your being and now you’re back to feeling at the center the belly the center of yourself and just resting in yourself in your body blessed by the earth and the sky and the trees you become aware of all the woodland plants that grow and you just open to this I stedford section of this meditation where I just say to you the ovate healing prayer enchanters plant vain herb of Grace holy wart chief herb sacred to Venus and the Aran may it bring inspiration love reconciliation and blessings into my life Guardian trees around us of Elder of birch of hathorne I hold your berries Elder and Hawthorne tears of your sap Birch and I ask for your blessings to drive away impurities and to strengthen my heart simple plantain here on the ground beside me here with your leaves way bread of the nine herbs charm bring me the calm the assertiveness the resilience that I need yarrow staunch grass of the div’s charm bring me the stability of Faith the Salve of faithfulness the strength of virility the healing of my wounds valaran all heel and encourager of sleep with your sweet scent bring me calm bring me deep peace fairy flowers of Primrose primar Rosa first flower of Hillside and garden bring me love bring me peace PE bring me the blessings of kidu’s cauldron timia mug wart mother wart sacred to Venus help me to see beyond the world of effects to the world of causes and meaning of beauty and power May fatigue be banished protection be always always about me mistletoe drawn from Oak and apple seed of rebirth and of new life all heel of the Ancients may my own life be refreshed at its roots reborn with every Dawn may all be healed may all be blessed and imagine now that your hands are on the earth and you send your blessings to the Earth May the Earth be blessed allow your hands to drift out and to take the hand of the person listen to either side of you so that all of us seated here can be seated holding hands in the circle May Our Lives be blessed may all lives be blessed May the Earth be blessed the land be blessed gently squeeze the hand to either side of you and bring your hands now to your heart and you might like to do that with your physical hands too moving your hands to your heart and as you hold your hands to your heart ask that you might be blessed that all life might be blessed and as you do this you become more and more aware of your physical body and as you do this your awareness of being in the sacred grove in the circle in the forest gradually starts to fade as you become aware of being in your room with the screen in front of you and you check now to sense how do I know I’m in my room what do I sense that tells me I’m in my room in front of my screen taking a de big deep breath hold for a moment and then breathe out fully and deeply and now being fully present in your body here and now you gently stretch your fingers and toes and when you feel ready you open your eyes so thank you for being in that meditation I was um I did a zoom for a for a for a lovely event um the we all pagans um put on an event a fundraiser for the local food bank and I think they they they they uh raised a lot of money for it um world Pathways Festival online and I I I used uh oate healing prayer there and and and and I thought oh gosh this is so nice I do it again so uh thank you for thank you for being in this meditation um I’d be interested to know how I did a slightly unusual entry into that spending more time than usual exploring our resistances and um how i’ I’d be interested to know how how how that was that beginning um and I rather like the the image of the cardboard box of us all kind of coming to and discovering ourselves in the clearing I don’t know if it worked for you um but uh but I hope it did um Gordon is saying I I feel half in a Grove still yes I know it’s it’s sometimes quite hard to come back from from these meditations isn’t it um uh I could sense the warmth of the ARA the energy of my plants and the corner the doorways from my kitchen where I’m sat love that in the forest it was so damp this evening lovely smells yes uh great um great um thank you so much uh so it’s lovely to see your comments so now um love the image of the cardboard box said Michelle yeah um what I’m going to do is I’m going to do two things I am going to make a cup of tea come back read your comments and then I’m going over to the halfth the Druid Heth those of you who are members of the order who’ve had their invitation our apologies if you have if you are a member but you haven’t had your invitation but there are many many members to invite and and for sort of purely it flow reasons we’re having to invite people uh slowly in but there are many members of the order now in the Druid hath which is a wonderful environment a kind of private environment online where we can share and there are all sorts of resources and we’re going to be doing workshops and there and on Saturday I interviewed Ronald Hutton and we had a kind of exclusive conversation for the heart and so on so lots of wonderful things there complete directory of seed groups and Groves and um ability to chat with each other and private message each other and all the rest of it so I’m but it also has this ability to live stream and we’re still getting used to the technology I’m not sure um I’ll succeed but I’m going to go and try and live stream into the half so if you feel like joining me and we’ll just have an informal time maybe just a Q&A session or something like that just a a chat in in the half so so um if you’re able to I’ll see you over there okay bye everybody lots of love and have a wonderful week and I’ll see you next week next Monday okay bye