 Hi, my name is Danny, and welcome to Esoteric Moment. Today I'm going to talk about Druidry and Ritual. This was a suggestion from my giveaway video, and I thought it was such a great idea that I could do a whole video on it. Ritual is important to a lot of pagans, and Druidry especially can be a little bit more formulaic with its ritual, at least when you're a member of an order or organization. For me, I'm solitary, I don't work with a group or a group. All my ritual is usually done inside my apartment, or when the weather is nice, I do it outside at a local park. I've done a couple at the farm, but that can be a little tricky to coordinate timing and weather and all of the things I like to bring with me. Ritual is a great way to make your spiritual life be a very grounding and central aspect of your day-to-day practice. Druids tend to celebrate the eight pagan holidays on the Wheel of the Year, so the solstices, the equinoxes, and the cross quarter days. Frankly, it's also easier for me as a very busy person to really put a lot of energy and time into celebrating the Wheel of the Year rather than taking time monthly for ritual. That way I can have more daily practice and eight big holidays rather than monthly ritual events. So what does ritual actually look like from a Druid perspective? I can only speak to the kind of obad format, and I think it's relatively similar to some other organizations, and what a lot of ritual ideas will be given in books if you're just on your own entirely. Ritual starts when you enter your sacred space. This is usually coming from the West, a very receptive quarter, coming from that emotional center of self. When you enter from the West, you are telling yourself and nature and gods that you are receptive and open to ritual and what is going to happen in that time and space. Then there's an opening, kind of you saying, I am starting, followed by recognizing and encouraging peace in your personal space, in the greater world, and with the quarters. So north, south, west, east. Following that is usually the Druid's Prayer, which I've included a link in the description below if you haven't heard it. It's really beautiful and lovely. Obad, and I really love this part, tends to then chant out. This is a great way to kind of raise the energy of spirit and really put yourself in that mindset fully. There's one thing to walk around and to just kind of repeat words that you've learned or you're reading. It's another to chant and really kind of channel that spiritual word. Finally, there is Casting the Circle, which is very similar to what you might do in Wicca or if you're an eclectic pagan. Obad has some really beautiful verbiage for casting a circle that includes animal totems for each quarter. That's kind of the entirety of the opening section and is usually a part of every ritual. Then you come to the right, which if you're on your own might be some readings you've picked out or working on a creative endeavor in sacred space. It might be practicing some magic or working on a certain spell. It might also be seasonal, so recognizing solstices or the cross quarter days, doing something that really tunes into that element of the season. This might also include meditation. It's really kind of the body of the ritual and yet it's almost the most free-forming and flexible to whatever is going on in your life and the season. Finally, we have the closing, which is kind of a reversal of casting the circle and settling into grounding the energy that was raised in the circle. One of my favorite parts about the oba closing is that it usually has some sort of phrase that talks about how the spirit of that seasonal celebration or that ritual will be continued in your own life throughout. It might even say something specific like, may its inspiration continue in my life or it might be a little more flow-forming. Ritual is really a way to mark the season, mark your magical work, mark your spiritual progress in whatever way works for you. It means creating sacred space, honoring that sacred space, and then kind of finding a way to end your sacred time, but keep it going throughout your life. I know that there are lots of people who are interested in druidry, but haven't yet taken the leap to join an organization or still kind of getting started, and you might want to create a ritual of your own. I would suggest looking at some of the beginning druidry books, like ones done by Philip Kargam or Penny Billington, and also looking at some of the intro books to Wicca. They often talk about how to create sacred space, how to formulatively develop your ritual time. Those can be all jumping off points for you finding what speaks to your spirit. I would encourage you to be willing to experiment and really mess around and play with ritual. Find ways that you can create and honor the sacred space and natural world in your life. I hope this gave you a small taste of what ritual can be like in druidry. If you have any further questions, please leave them in the comments below. I'd love to know if you have something that is really unique to your ritual time or space. Maybe it's a certain phrase that you use when casting a circle, or maybe it's a location that you go to for every ritual. I think it's always interesting to see how people tweak and turn ritual into their own spiritual practice. Have a fabulous week, and as always, may you find peace in the sacred grove.