powers, and grant healing to whomever is your patient.
'Now, the time you pick a herb is most important,' Elidir continues, changing the subject. 'The powers in a plant vary according to the time of day, the phases of the moon and even the position of the stars. Of course, they vary greatly in accordance with their own life cycle. You do not want to pick them before they have reached their full strength or when their strength is waning. You will have to learn this knowledge slowly, but as a general rule follow your common sense and intuition. If a plant feels “unripe'' or "feeble'' as you hold your hand above it, leave it alone and find one that feels right. Pick it early in the morning, with the dew fresh upon it, and try to pick it on a waxing moon, when its powers will be rising.
'The Witches and Druids of old placed great importance on the moment of picking, because it is at that moment that you "kill'' the plant. It sacrifices its life for you and the healing power of that life is transferred to your remedy and through that remedy to your patient.
'So, it is appropriate - and necessary - to say a prayer. If you don't need the whole plant, but only a few leaves or berries, it is still handing you little packages of its life, and you should still say a prayer. As you pluck the plant, sense the life in it and thank the Goddess for the gift of that life.
'Let your herbs dry in the sun, rather than artificially. Everyone who practises Druidcraft should grow vervain. Even if you don't have a garden you can grow it in a window box or in a small pot. Use the dried leaves like tea leaves to make a drink that will cleanse you, and when you perform ceremonies use the dried leaves as incense. Vervain is the equivalent of the sage that is used by many Native Americans in their ceremonies. It is purifying and cleansing, so you can waft its smoke around your magic circle, and around the auras of those who are working with you. It is good to have sprigs of it on your altar too, and you should change them regularly.'
Elidir then points to the trees that surround the herb garden, the gnarled old oaks, weeping willows, birches and beech trees. 'Every living thing - stone, star, tree, animal, flower, stem, leaf - they all bring us gifts of life and energy, and in Druidcraft we learn how we can receive these gifts and, in our turn, pass on these gifts of life, inspiration and healing to others.
'When you are feeling good, you have energy flowing through you, and when you are feeling ill or low, it feels as if you have no energy. One of the great benefits of working in this way is that you can learn how to collect, store and intensify the energy in your body. The Druids call this energy Nwyfre, (pronounced Ne-wee-frey) which comes from an old Celtic word for 'Firmament'. In Yoga this force is called "prana'', in Sufism “baraka". Some people simply call it “life force''.
'Nwyfre is in all living things and in every part of Nature, and in certain. places it is stronger than in others. That is why particular places have developed over the years as “power points'' or healing centres - the Earth's magnetism varies in intensity at different places, and so does the level of negative ions. Places such as the seaside, waterfalls and mountains have more negative ions in their atmosphere, and they contain high levels of Nwyfre, which is why people visit these places to feel better. There are other places that drain us of energy. Usually these are places that have banished Nature, such as high-rise offices with air conditioning and neon lighting, or places that feel "used up'' or “worn out”. Sometimes there are places that feel worse than that, perhaps because something awful has happened there and the tragedy still lingers in the atmosphere.
'Nwyfre is also in food. The sooner you eat food after it is picked from the ground or the tree the better, because the longer it is stored, the more the life force drains away from it. Also, the more it is processed, the more Nwyfre it loses. That is why you should grow at least some of your own food.'
'But I don't have the time or space to do that Elidir,' says Brendan.
'Oh, but you do,' she says, inviting you all to follow her. Soon you reach a small house lying on the edge of the herb garden. 'This is where I live, and I want to show you how you can get a good supply of Nwyfre every day, even if you don't have a garden or much time.' She then shows you into her kitchen.
'Look here!' she says, pointing to a row of jars and pots on the window ledge beside the sink. In the jars are beans in various stages of sprouting. The tops of the jars are covered in muslin, secured by rubber bands. 'Just throw a handful of alfalfa seeds in one jar, mung beans in another, rinse them with water every day, and in only four days you can be eating sprouts that are bursting with vitamins and minerals.'
'But the ancient Witches or Druids didn't do this!' says Brendan.
'Who says we're trying to live like exactly like them? What we're doing here is living with the inspiration and the ethos of our spiritual ancestors, but in every age we must create the spirituality that answers to the needs and Spirit of the times. If we could summon up a wise old Druid or Witch from ancient times and explain the benefits of eating these things, I think she'd agree with us, don't you? Remember Airmid's task of piecing together the puzzle? All our lives we should adopt that approach - of adding to our store of knowledge of how to live wisely, fully, passionately, and then to pass on that store to our children.
'Now, if you've got a little more space and time you can add a few pots of earth to your miniature farm. Bury a few garlic cloves in one pot, and grow parsley and chives in others. As they grow, snip off a few shoots with a pair of scissors and add them to your sprouts when you have a salad. You can also grow lentil sprouts in earth in this way, and use beets and onions to generate green shoots too. All of these will generate fresh green shoots full of minerals and vitamins every few days. If you have a salad every day made of these home-grown greens your health will benefit enormously. You can also grow herbs indoors - basil, thyme, marjoram, balm, borage, caraway, chervil, coriander, dill, rosemary and savory, amongst others. Children love helping with this - they can see the magic of life growing in front of their eyes.'
Elidir now changes tack: 'But not eating every now and then is as important as eating!' Having said this, she leads you all out of the kitchen, through the garden and towards an orchard that lies at the western side of the herb garden.
As you approach the orchard, you see that it is devoted to growing apples. She plucks one from a tree, and says, 'Look!' She takes a knife from her pocket and cuts it sideways in two. There in the centre of the apple is a perfect pentagram with the apple seeds embedded within it. 'The Druids believe the apple was given to us by the gods - it is the food of paradise, of the Summerlands where we go when we die. That is why it is blessed with the seal of the pentagram at its core. Every year, as the Autumn approaches, many of us at Avronelle undertake a cleansing fast to prepare us for Winter and build up a store of Nwyfre inside us. We eat only apples for three days, that's all! Every time we feel hungry we just eat an apple or two. The soft fibre in the apple acts as a cleanser to our intestines and colon, and the juice provides us with essential minerals and vitamins. Some members of the community press the apples to make juice and they drink that as well as eating the apples. Others like to include raw hazelnuts in the diet - they like the protein and extra minerals they bring, and hazelnuts are another sacred food of the ancient Druids. So, by combining apples with hazelnuts they feel they are eating “the food of the gods''. As you can see, we have quite a different relationship to the apple from many Christians who believe Eve used it to tempt Adam. If you ever want to try this, just make sure the apples are not sprayed with chemicals. You don't want to spend three days eating pesticides.
'What tends to happen nowadays is that there is so little Nwyfre in processed food and drinks, that we eat and drink more and more of them in a desperate attempt to get the life force we need. Instead, it is much better to break the pattern by having a “mono-fast'' such as this for several days, and then to start eating in a healthier way - with as much raw food as possible. Cooking tends to remove a lot of the vitamins from food, and the fibre and plant enzym
es work better inside us if they have not been subject to vigorous boiling or frying.'
'What about meat? Do you think we should become vegetarians?' asks Brendan.
The wonderful thing about a way such as this is that it is a way of life that you craft for yourself. It is not a religion that lays down the law about how you should behave. It is a way of life, and a way of working magically, that helps you to find the source of your own power and your own understanding of life. For most people, as they contact that power and that understanding deep within them, they discover a growing reverence for life and a desire to live in as simple and natural a way as possible. So, many people who follow this path are vegetarian because they feel it is wrong to kill animals, and they point to all the health problems associated with eating meat. But others believe that compassionate farming is the answer. Many of them have tried vegetarianism and have found it doesn't suit them. We would all like to be told what to do, but it seems that each of us has to find out what our body needs and what gives it the best health and the most energy. I'm afraid it is one of those issues that only you can discover the answer to.'
'Tell me more about Nwyfre. It sounds such an important concept,' asks Brendan.
'I have explained how we get Nwyfre from food,' Elidir begins, 'Now let me tell you how we get it from other sources. The pentagram can help us again.' Pointing to the star in the centre of the apple, she continues, 'We get a great deal of energy from the four elements, and from the fifth element of Spirit, which is present in all the other elements, but most of us don't consciously draw in this energy. Once you use your consciousness, it makes all the difference. I presume you have heard about the energy centres of the body?'
'You mean the chakras?' asks Brendan.
'Yes, that's the term for them in the East. We just call them energy centres. Well, the whole body is an energy centre in as much as we receive and give off energy from our whole bodies. Physiologists can measure part of this energy as bio-electrical discharges from our body, and an engineer called Semyon Kirlian developed a camera that can photograph these discharges. But there are certain parts of our body which seem to act as specialized energy receptors and distributors. Good healers know how to work with these centres to cleanse and balance them, but there is a way each of us can do this for ourselves to a good extent and that is by using Nature and the elements.'
Having said this, Elidir gestures for you all to stand. She says, 'One experience is worth a thousand words, so follow me!' With that she walks back towards the roundhouse, following the path beside the pentagram herb bed, and back through the winding lane that leads past the houses and gardens.
Rather than continuing on to the roundhouse, Elidir leads you through a small gate to one side of the path, and you follow her until finally you arrive at a secluded garden, bathed in sunshine. In the midst of the garden is a wooden pavilion and she leads you straight towards it. Opening the door, she ushers you in. There is a wonderful atmosphere in the room. Sunlight streams through the open windows, there is a smell of fresh flowers and herbs, and in the centre of the room stands a harp beside a low couch. Elidir asks you to sit around the sides of the room, while to Brendan she says, 'Why don't you lie down here, and I'll take you through a healing meditation we use to bring energy to our bodies – to recharge and balance ourselves by taking in more Nwyfre.'
Elidir begins to play the harp, and over the sound of her music she says, 'The harp is the most healing instrument on Earth. That is why the bards of old not only used the harp to tell tales, but also to heal people. As you listen to the music, just let go of all your cares and concerns. Allow them to float away with the music.'
To carry out the following exercise, you will either need to have a friend read it out to you as you lie down and listen to it, or you can read it through, remember the sequence, then carry it out from memory: Alternatively, you can record it yourself on to a tape recorder, or order a CD version of it from the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.
THE BLESSING OF THE ELEMENTS
To begin, either listen to some harp music or imagine it playing as you lie on your floor or bed. Then, when it finishes, focus on your breathing. Become aware of yourself breathing in and out, and as you breathe in, feel yourself breathing in energy, calm and tranquillity. As you breathe out, feel all your tensions and anxieties falling away from you.
Do this for as long as you wish, just breathing in and breathing out.
Then become aware of the earth beneath you. Feel its energy rising up into your body, and as you feel this energy rising up, it is as if you can feel yourself sinking down. Just relax and let go, allowing yourself to feel at one with the earth, at one with the rich dark soil, with the rocks and stones of the earth, with the crystals and precious stones within the soil. Experience this for as long as you like.
Then, feeling energized and calmed, grounded and invigorated, you become aware again of lying on the earth.
In your imagination, sit up slowly. There ahead of you is a lake of crystalline water. Imagine diving into the lake. Feel the water on your skin, on your hair. Feel how the water supports you and at the same time invites you to sink deeper into its mysteries, its life. You find yourself swimming down into the depths of the lake and, miraculously, you discover that you can breathe underwater easily. You find an underwater cave near the bottom of the lake, and you swim into it, finding that it becomes a passage, a tunnel, that leads you out into the ocean. Passing brilliantly coloured fish and coral, you swim to the surface and leap like a flying fish up into the sky, which is as blue as the Water that now lies below you. Then you splash down into the sea, enjoying the feeling of your body meeting the water, swimming down into the ocean, hearing the sound of whales and dolphins, which you can see in the distance through the blue depths. Open yourself to all the power and wonder that swimming in the ocean brings to you – all the wildness and the beauty - then swim back through the underwater tunnel, out of the cave and into the lake. Feel the gentler, calmer energy that the lake brings to you, and then climb out and lie down on the shore, sensing yourself invigorated and energized, calmed and centred.
After a while, with your eyes closed, you start to feel the gentlest breeze on your face and body. It feels so good. Now, in your imagination, open your eyes and look up into the sky. It is a perfect azure blue, with one or two clouds drifting gently by. Allow yourself to breathe in the energy and the clarity of the sky. As you breathe the energy of the sky into your body, you feel as if you are floating up into the air, as if you are as light as a feather. Drift up towards one of those white clouds and float on to it.
Now just lie back on the soft white cloud. It is like the softest bed in the world. When you look up, you see the deepest blue sky above you. Soak in this blue colour, let it flow over you and through you.
Stay with this experience for as long as you like, and then feel the cloud slowly landing beside the lake shore. Climb off the cloud, and lie beside the lake, while the cloud drifts back up into the sky.
You feel so calm and relaxed now, so full of energy and strength. Resting on the ground you start to notice the warmth of the sun on your face and body. It feels so good, this golden light that warms you. And, as you relax and enjoy the feeling of the sun on your body, you find yourself feeling as if you yourself are the sun, you feel as if you are glowing with energy, radiant with light. Every cell of your body feels so vibrant - filled with warmth, vitality and power.
Stay with this feeling for as long as you like, and then gradually become aware of lying beside the lake again. Feel the earth beneath you, the clear water of the lake in front of you, the blue sky above you, and the sun shining down on you. Then slowly become aware of being in the here and now. Become aware of your body, stretch your fingers and toes, then open your eyes.
This visualization exercise can be very relaxing and healing, but you can make it even more effective by grounding the experience in your body, either by going for a walk, a swim or by having a massage
- or, if you can arrange it, having a mud bath!
At the summer camps of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, we always dig a mud bath, so that after such an exercise we can take off our clothes, wander out into the sun, and sink into warm invigorating mud. Many people, after they have had a mud bath, go into the sweathouse. Let's join Elidir again to hear more about this:
PART 2
'Just as the Native Americans work in sweat lodges,' Elidir explains, 'The Celts, and, undoubtedly, the ancient Druids too, discovered the healing power of combining water and fire as many cultures have done, and developed sweathouses. Piles of heated stones with traces of post holes have been found by archaeologists at a number of prehistoric sites in Britain, and up until the nineteenth century the Irish used sweathouses fuelled by peat, which they called Tigh n'Alluis. We have revived the practice here, and every week an experienced member holds a sweathouse ceremony over there,' she says, pointing to a domed structure that you learn is a bender made of hazel rods covered with tarpaulins.
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