![]() ![]() Another tarot card that is fitting is that of the hanged man–gaining a new perspective offers much in terms of insights, healing, tranquility, and more. The tarot is ultimately a deck of archetypes, and we see this same arch-typical story of hermitage, of solitude, of retreat encapsulated in mythology, stories, and religious lore from around the world–Jesus, Buddha, Thoreau, even fictional characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi–all retreated and had deep insight and wisdom to share. Of course, when he returns, he has much knowledge and illumination to share with others. He spends much time wandering the land, by himself, and coming to an understanding of life’s great mysteries. The hermit has gone off to seek solitude and illumination. In the Tarot, the Hermit card teaches us much about the idea of a spiritual retreat. When you return to that forest path, as you most certainly will do, you have more wisdom about it because you have seen it from a different perspective. It allows you to look at the interplay of the different trees, the meandering of the river, and the mountains beyond the valley. ![]() It allows you a different perspective, a broader view, where you can see the everyday patterns in a new light. What the retreat does is allow you to leave the forest of your everyday life and instead, sit on a mountain cliff, above that forest, looking down at all below. There, you have a long way to go, you rest, you find mushrooms, you see what is before you on the path, you adapt, crawl over fallen trees, and more. One of the ways I think about the druid’s retreat is like this: in your everyday life, you are hiking a path in a forest. Introducing the Druid’s Retreat Into the forest… The second post, next week’s post, will explore how to ease into the retreat, the work of the retreat, and ease back into everyday life–the ceremony continuing on well beyond the retreat itself. This will be a two-part post series: the first part will introduce the retreat, explain how to set one up, and explain some decisions to make (to fast or not to fast, solitary or companions), options for how to hold the retreat, herbal allies for your retreat, and so on. It is this kind of retreat, even for only a few days at a time, that can leave us refreshed, whole, and ready to go back into the world with our lights shining brightly. And today, friends, I will be writing about a key practice that helps us do just that: the druid spiritual retreat. This isn’t the first time I have shared this metaphor on this blog (and it was taught to me by the brilliant Jim McDonald), but it is one that I find so useful and important that I keep on returning to it.Īnd so, once in a while, we need something more drastic to give us a boost and allow our inner light to shine forth. It is important, then, that we maintain the integrity of our light bulbs so that we can do the good work that we are called to do. ![]() Our light bulbs get mired in the everyday grime of living and being in the world. As I wrote about two weeks ago–life seems to be getting harder, with more sharp edges, and so many of us are on edge throughout. They grow dim, dirty from the world and its evils. As we work through our lives, read the news, hear of suffering and violence, experience tragedy, loss, suffering, and violence–our light bulbs get stuff sloshed on them. When we go out into the world and do good, through healing work, through engaging in people care, earth care, or fair share–the inner light of our souls, the inner light of our bulbs, burns brightly, illuminating all of those around us. No, not one of those new-fangled compact fluorescents, but rather, one of the old style standard bulbs with the firmament and all. ![]()
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