My spiritual path (pt.1)

On our Grove Facebook group we are currently each sharing the history of our spiritual path and answering questions posed by the other grove members. These may be shared later in our grove blog: corieltauvigrove.wordpress.com

In this part I’ll copy my original post, in the next part (or two) I’ll post up my responses to various questions.

“Religion was never part of my childhood. If push came shove my parents would probably claim to be Christian, but that’s about as far as it would go. I was never christened, and apart from 1 wedding, 2 funerals and the inevitable junior school harvest festival, I’ve never been to church. The closest I ever got to religion whilst growing up was watching Sparticus or a similar technicolor biblical epic at Easter whilst scoffing chocolate. I didn’t grow up with religion, I’ve never missed it and I’ve never felt the pain of loosing ones faith or the need to replace it with another. I don’t consider Druidry as a religious faith, instead I see it as a living spiritual philosophy.

When I was a younger I was never a “mainstream” kid, I was into sci-Fi and fantasy films, books and TV. I got into rock and heavy metal music, RPG’s, weird and horror fiction … As I’m sure tha Daily Mail and certain sections of the Church would be keen to point out, my drift towards the occult was inevitable.

My first foray into the occult was with tarot cards and runes. Then I went straight onto Aleister Crowley’s “Magick in Theory and Practice”. Thus started my complex relationship with the great beast himself.

In an effort to understand Crowley, I looked into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, other occult groups, and societies; and other religions. I read a lot on occult theory and various pagan and magickal paths.

I joined OBOD in 1991; Spent 5 years as a bard, 4 as an Ovate and 5 in the Druid grade; graduating in 2005. I was approached about becoming a tutor a few years before I graduated. I passed the tutor selection process, and took up my role as a Bardic tutor in March 2006. I am currently a Bardic, Ovate and (occasionally) a Tutor tutor. I am also admin on the shadowy and secret “OBOD mentors” FB group.

Although dedicated to Druidry as my main path, I still keep up with some Crowley/GD/ceremonial reading and research. To me the two paths are interlinked. I am an initiate of the GD tradition and student of Thelema. (Technically, I’m also a Druid companion in AODA and an initiate of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn). I currently blend GD / A.’.A.’. and Druidry into my spiritual magickal practice.

Core beliefs: I believe there is a primal creative force that permeates everything in the universe. This force can be referred to as the “divine”. We are part of that force, as is everything else. All is connected. The totality of the divine force is beyond our current comprehension. I believe that through various magickal, meditational, devotional and other consciousness altering and focusing techniques we can raise our awareness of this divine presence/element both within ourselves and in the wider consensus reality (I follow a microcosm/macrocosm model). Through application of our willed (focused) awareness, we can affect change within ourselves and the wider consensus reality. We strive towards greater awareness/comprehension and connection/unity with the divine so far as we can comprehend it (the Great Work). In Druidry we conceptualise this process as the circles of Abred with Gwynfyd as the divine; in Thelema it is the union of Hadit and Nuit; in Qabalah it is the journey of the great return to Kether on the tree of life.”