Walking the Druid Path (Ritual: A Guide to Love, Life and Inspiration - Emma Restall Orr)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Ritual: A Guide to Love, Life and Inspiration - Emma Restall Orr
Date:	26/08/03 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of interesting ideas

Disadvantages: wading through honey

Druidry, like many other Pagan paths, is rising in popularity at the moment. Emma Restall Orr, one of the leading lights in the British Druid Order, is one of the better known writers in this field. She's written a fair few books about Druidry, and if what I've seen thus far is typical, it's accessible and poetic stuff. perhaps not useful or ideal for everyone, but if Druidry tempts you, its a good place to make a start.

'Ritual' as a word conjures up images of elaborate costumes, symbolic actions, complex scripts and archaic wisdom. Rituals, in most perceptions, are something a bit elite, only available to those who have certain training, to priests and priestesses. It can all be a bit intimidating, or perhaps worse, it can all seem a bit superficial and pointless. The concept of Ritual as presented in this book is very differnt indeed: Ritual as making space in your life to let beauty and creativity in, ritual as a way of communing with people and places. Emma Restall Orr makes it very clear that ritual is something anyone can explore, alone or with friends, in wild palces or at home, with distinct religious beliefs or total agnosticism. 'Ritual' is what you make it, in many ways, and this book offers some excellent ways of thinking about such actions.

In this book, ERO is talking about her own kind of Druidy. There are other groups and orders working in very different ways, so this is by no means a definative work. It is aimed for the greater part at people who have not really embarked on a spiritual path, who are fairly new to things Pagan and totally new to things Druidic. For anyone with a greater level of expereince, some of the passages may seem a bit obvious. But this in iteself can be a learning expereince, showing you how far you have come already.

I have a couple of gripes, I'l slide them in now. Firstly, there's smatterings of history in here and they're a tad superficial. I like writin
g that clearly references its sources, I know this is too academic for some people's tastes, but it niggles me when that sort of detail is mising, and missing it is. ERO has a very poetic writing style. Sometimes this can be very pleasing and evocative, sometimes it can be like trying to walk when waist deep in honey. Taken in isolation, any paragraph will read as being beautifully crafted, but it can be a bit of a surfiet if you're trying to read it in any more than tiny portions. I gather some people find this style very enjoyable, but I did occasionaly find it counterproductive.

In the book, ERO lays out her ideas about what ritual is, and what its for. She talks you through the sorts of places you might use and how to go about doing that, about the tools you might find useful, and the sorts of elements you might want to consider. She talks in some detail about key elements of rituals and this is very useful for anyone looking at practising Druirdy. She also works through the eight main festivals - the solsitices, Equinoxes, Imbolg, Beltain, Lugnasadh and Samhain, exploring the nature of each and discussing ways in which these festivals might be honoured. There is also a section dealing with life rites - child welcomings, coming of age, marriage, elder rites and death rites. This section was one of the most interesting for me. (If anyone wants to know more about this sort of thing, there's an excellent organisation called Liferites who 'd recomend, I think they have a website.)

So, that's the ritual covered, but what about the other elements in the title? Well, love is an interesting one. This book isn't going to give you love spells or magically get you the person of your dreams, before you start wondering. What it does is offer some very productive views about relationships, between pople, between people and land, people and spirits. ERO preaches connection with a passion, communion of spirit and trust in interaction.
She talks about hard work and dedication, and she has a lot of things to say that can only help anyone who wants to broaden their relationships and find greater depth in them.

Life - well, the book is in many ways about bringing ritual, tranquility and connection into your life. It's not about doing eight festivals a year, its about changing how you live on a daily basis, about making time for things that matter. It's also about honouring the relationships and transition moments that matter. If you take on board any of the elements in this book and actually try to live some of it, then inevitably your life is going to change.

Inspiration - in Druidry, there's a concept called Awen, a flow of inspiration which can be tapped into. part of the point of ritual is clearing away the noise of every day life so that you can ehar the voice of spirit and inspiration. It's not just about inspiration for art or writing or the like, its inspiration to lvie more fully, to love more fully and expereince more fully.

Initially I had real problems with this book, I found the first few chapters jarred somewhat and did not fit at all with where I was at the time. I was desperately looking for knowledge, for a better udnerstanding of Druidry, and I wanted something deep and detailed and challenging. But, once I actually got into the book, I found it contained some excellent ideas that I've been thinknig about ever since. While this book is particularly going to appeal to those studying Druidry or otherwise interested in Paganism, it isn't purely aimed at people from this background.

My final observation is this. Having attended a ritual lead by Emma Restall Orr, she's a truly impressive person in the flesh, very charismatic and compelling. Her rituals are quite something to expereince.

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