 You've heard me talk about the order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, but is it really worth it? Hey there saplings! Welcome back to Esoteric Moment. My name is Dani, and I am going to talk to you about the top 10 reasons to join the order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. I'm guessing you've already seen, but maybe you haven't. My videos where I review the BARD and OVATE courses from OBOT or the order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. And if you haven't yet, then you should check out the little information tab. I'll have a link to those videos. When I started my Druid path, I worked on my own for quite some time. I was a solitary practitioner, but eventually I wanted a little bit more structure. I wanted a push. I wanted a connection. That meant that I looked for orders to join. Since many of my favorite Druid authors were members of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, that was definitely the first place I looked. And sure enough, when comparing it to some of the other orders, like ADF or the Ancient Order of Druids, OBOT was the one that fit my practices and beliefs the best. Their website, druidry.org, will have so many resources. So if you're curious like I was, then definitely check out their website. Let's get into the top 10 reasons for why I think OBOT is worth joining. So for number 10, definitely community. There are a million groups online. There are a ton of local groups, and there's just a really awesome feeling of connection and working together through the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. I appreciated that there was a forum online, even though I'm not really there anymore. I appreciated that there were Facebook groups, that there were people who, when I posted a blog post or a video, would have a comment and be like, I too am a part of this group. That connection to a worldwide collection of really awesome people meant that my practice would feel less lonely and would be easy to feel inspired, because there's so many different ways in our community of practicing Druidry. Number nine would be the mentor. The really great thing about signing up for the Bard course or the Oat and then future courses is that you can get assigned a mentor. Now, this mentor might communicate with you via email or maybe handwriting, but they are the person that you can go to and ask questions about the course materials, about your practice. They're also in some ways the people who can be like, yeah, this is a good direction for you or maybe point you in the direction of other resources. I'm not sure I've ever utilized my mentor to the fullest possible potential, but I've still really valued those relationships. And I think it's one of the best key parts that the course can offer. Number eight would be that it gives you kind of an icebreaker. It can be a little intimidating to tell muggles, non-magical pagan folks what Druidry is. If you say that you are a member of the order, it can be very useful to be like, and they have a website druidry.org. You can go read more. It helps not feeling like explaining your practices all the time is always on you. I found it very useful to have this kind of like PR department, frankly, and a group that would help me educate other people about the things I believe without feeling like I have to be the teacher all the time. Number seven would be the obad rituals. I so love the seasonal rituals and celebration practices and ideas that you get in the bardic course. I think it's really interesting. Well, I've adapted some of the rituals to my own preferences. It is very intriguing to have this kind of like structured ritual for the seasonal celebrations and gives you kind of this entry point to that wider community again and just a really great resource. I think it's super worthwhile just for the rituals alone. Number six is the wisdom and inspiration to go further. The courses at any level really set the pace for you. You decide how fast you're going through things. You decide what side avenues your practice will take. You are the decision maker of the whole process, but it doesn't allow you to just sit back and read a bunch. It really pushes you to be more active. It pushes you to keep thinking, to keep learning, to keep seeking out knowledge and wisdom and inner peace and outer peace. That push because you're getting regular materials because you have this community because you have this connection to the order is so important when you're less connected to like an actual group of people nearby. Even when you are in a group, I think it's nice to have that internal push that's coming from what you hope to achieve with the order. Number five would be the teachers of the community. What I love about Obad is it's not really a structured group. There are bards of its druids, but neither one of those is like better than the other. The teachings are structured just so that you can build upon knowledge. But there are some really interesting authors, speakers, teachers who make the community a wonderful, welcoming, beautiful place. These teachers are so willing to share and so willing to bring everybody with them. It's a, let's bring people together. Let's bring us all up. It's not about teaching down to people. It's about teaching through people and with people. And I love, love that part of the order. Number four of joining the order of bards, obaids, and druids would definitely be the structure of the course material. It's nice to have a regular lesson that is already planned from someone who knows what they're talking about, a lesson that's structured in such a way that it builds on previous information, leaves room for side exploration, and sets the stage for future lessons. And a teacher is really good and may have set things up so that the student is empowered and succeeds and works at their own pace. Oh, it's such a sweet, yummy connection. And the orders courses have totally mastered that, I think. If you take 10 years to get through the bard course, no one is going to be like, where have you been? No, it's all about like, that's great. You have, you know, learned so much. You've experienced so much. There's just wonder and appreciation for every student's journey. And I think that's because the structure of the course is set up for students to really succeed, for druids to really create their own practice and, and, you know, learn what they are looking to learn. Number three is the freedom to approach deity in the way that I see fit. Lots of pagans have different ideas about deity. And druidry, I think, is unique in the way that the order of bards, obaids, and druids says nothing about the way you have to interact with deity or that you have to interact with deity at all that leaves so much room and richness for an individualized practice and verbiage and that exploration of deity in such a organic way. I think it's what makes druidry work for so many different people is that it's not about having dogma about God or deity. It's about finding connection, wisdom, and peace. Number two would be the freedom to be an empowered woman. I don't know quite how to explain that in the best way, but I love that there are awesome female druid teachers and authors. I love that there is inclusive language for God and goddess. I love that there is room in the lessons for genders of all types anywhere along the spectrum and that I am not put into a box just because of my gender. I know that this is common in many pagan faiths, but I think obaid does a really great job and I'm just so appreciative that I'm no longer told, you know, I can't do something or I can't be of service because I have boobs. This is great. I think the order does a wonderful job of gender inclusivity. And number one reason for joining the order of bards, obaids, and druids for me has been empowerment and wisdom. I think they go along for me. The course material, the connection to the community, the structure, all the things I've mentioned really lead up to me having a place and a way to feel more empowered in my practice, to feel a richness in my practice and to find a depth of peace and wisdom. I am sure that people can find that in lots of different practices and groups and paths. The order of bards, obaids, and druids have really just clicked with me and it's made me feel the most empowered and the most at peace with my practice. I hope that in my video, some of that comes across because druidry is a wonderful gift and I am so grateful that I took the leap to join the order of bards, obaids, and druids and it really worked for me. I want the people who it will really work for to know about it, to feel that connection, to explore druidry in their own way, whatever that means. But I do think obaid has something really special and I'm so glad it's around for us to experience together. This week's separate shout out goes out to rock python on my what is druidry video. They asked a question which I actually get so much of, which is I am someone who believes in God but doesn't follow a particular religion. Can I be a druid? I get so many questions about like do you have to believe in God? Do you have to believe in goddess? Like what is druidry and deities, you know, connection. And so thank you for the question. I hope my comment helped but definitely obaid is a really welcoming place for interpretation of deity and I think that will appeal to a lot of people because I get the question all of the time. If you want to be a sapling shout out, tell me in the comments below whether any of the things I mentioned as my top 10 reasons to join obaid really rings true for you if you are in the order. And if you're just a cool pagan or someone watching the videos, let me know what you look for in a spiritual path. What, what matters to you? I'm curious. Thanks for watching and as always, may you find peace in the sacred grove.