Druidry Your Own Way - Service

Something Personal Only We Can Give.

As I continued down the path of exploring my own personal Druidry I came into contact with another spirit of the landscape. This time I encountered the sensitive energy of Service. And so I kept company to Service for a while and I explored the ways in which Service has been expressed through me and the ways that I had given something of myself to others, to human beings, to creativity, to the land or to nature. I wondered in the ways I had contributed something of value that had made a difference in the wider scheme of things.

I imagined, that to be in service is to give something of our time, this may look like resources, experience or skills offered to something or someone in need. A contribution that only we could give, a rare and unique commodity that would provide benefits to those who receive it. There is something sensitive here too, an intimate exchange between something alive within ourselves and the dynamic forces of aliveness beyond us. A connection of energy between us and them that becomes woven into the greater fabric of things. In terms of our Druidic path the act of service will be different for us all. Each of us is a precious asset in terms of our value to the Earth and what we can achieve and give to it's diverse inhabitants within the role of caretakers and custodians. As living intelligent beings we do have a responsibility at the very least to be aware and to not damage things. And if we can in small ways contribute to healing, protecting and preserving something precious. Then we must try.

While thinking on this I noticed something in myself becoming uncomfortable at times. The acts of service my mind automatically thought of were things that I recognised as great gestures of spirit, honourable and heroic things like planting a forest or activism. I thought to myself that I hadn't planted enough trees or given my voice to a cause for change. I have felt impotent at times walking through my local landscape and baring witness to environmentally damaging construction works which I felt powerless to do anything about. And then I noticed something within me that I wondered if other people will also recognise in themselves. When we are aligned with nature's consciousness, with the spirit of the land and attuned to the felt senses of others and otherness, we feel a weight of responsibility to do something to help. Yet for many of us, a powerlessness ensues, an impotence of not being able to do anything about it due our own limitations in life. Limitations that may affect our freedom with finances, health, influence or education. Yet each of us will have something that is uniquely ours to give, a rare and precious gift that each individual person has to offer, a service that that only we can provide either as a single act of kindness or in larger contribution in collective effort.

To me the act of Service in Druidry is a personal offering of something that is uniquely ours to give. Because of course we can't give something that isn't ours. On a core level this is an energy transaction, and needs to be something we can absorb the deficit of within ourselves. And this is why even a seemingly simple act of prayer has powerful ripples that radiate out into the environment. This is something that I offer especially when I enter a woodland. I meet the presence of the scared trees and the woodlands collective spirit and join with the tree spirit consciousness in appreciation and deep reverence. I offer my blessing before going forward. Something as simple as this can be recognised as a service to nature. This is an offering of companionate presence and the act is an attunment with the spirit of nature and what we give is our intention, respect and honour.

We offer what is within our power to give. For instance, the people with wealth and influence have this to give. They make great changes possible through funding and advertising projects that drive forward goals that have a positive impact. People with intelligence and wisdom, have the this to offer. They teach and educate, they share knowledge and wisdom, write books and preserve traditions. People who are creative have the power to inspire others with their poetic portrayal of human existence through expressions like dance, song, music and beautiful paintings, they can also contribute to the design of great works. People with physical strength have this contribute. They can build, plant, sow, harvest and do all the heavy hard work. And so on and so forth.

I reflect on my own life and wonder what it is that has been only mine to give. I'm not the one with great wealth or influence or the one with physical energy and strength. I search for something in myself that is meaningful that I have shared beyond myself and that I can consider as being of service to other people, to the land or to nature. I asked myself 'have I given anything that has mattered, made a difference or supported something to grow or be preserved' or protected'. What are these acts of service that came from me and sent something of value out into the world with far reaching ripples of a felt affect. What are the altruistic ways I have lived that have been for something bigger or beyond myself.

Some things that I have given of myself include my offering of the Tree Whisper Oracles. These oracles for me were a co-creation with the spirits of the trees, I believe I heard the voices of the trees and was guided to create and share these oracles. The goal was to support people to connect with tree spirit and deepen their own spiritual pathways into the felt sensing realms of the woodlands and wild places through keeping company with trees. These oracles were shared far and wide with many people and I felt like I had contributed to something ancestral and indigenous, renewing a lost pathway among the many for us on a journey into animism. I also notice something of a service in myself that writes here on this blog when I feel inspired. When I pass on connections to traditions through my stories and writing about The Celtic Tree Calendar and Tree-Centred Practice or Spirituality, I am offering something that only I can give. Offering something in service is to give something that is within ourselves to share. I like to offer support, inspiration and information to those who would find there way here on the path of their own spiritual or personal-growth journey.

I also recognise that my focus on my little garden is an act of service to nature's little creatures. Everything I plant is intentional and thoughtfully selected for their benefit to wildlife. I am offering a sanctuary for nature to be provided for on the tiny piece of earth that I have access to. This makes a big difference in the wider wildlife community as gardens are important passageways for small animals and insects. Last year I rescued an oak tree sapling that had sprouted on a community park lawn just beyond their parent tree. A lawn that is frequently mowed over. This little oak tree sapling absorbs so much of my thoughts as I try to plan how to keep them alive and grow them up and decide what to do beyond that. I am also a counsellor and have offered my service in these way in support of others healing and growth journeys and I have been a volunteer counsellor too, working without pay. As a mother I try to parent my children in the ways of empathy, self trust, kindness and to be conscious of nature, this may be acknowledged as service and probably the most important one of all holding great responsibility to raise the next generation with confidence, inspiration, core values and personal traditions.

The more I think about Service, the more I notice something sensitive living there. The idea of 'being in service' can sound quite dogmatic to me and for me has religious connotations reminding me of the religious canvassers who would knock on the door. A practice in some religions in which people would visit your house hoping to spread the word of their faith. But when I moved passed my own negative association of the word itself, I could see something deeply organic in the nature of the human being, wanting to share something that makes a positive difference to other people or in the wider world. Offering something to another is what we do naturally and often without realising it. And in it's simplest form a service can be seen as offering kindness. We are beings of great empathy and it is in our nature to want to make something better than we found it. Other simple acts like litter picking or planting nectar rich flowers in our garden for the bees, by signing a petition for environmental change or volunteering a little of our time can be seen as a small act of service that collectively when we all do these things creates many bigger ripples that reach far beyond us and affect change in ways we can't imagine. In my understanding, service in terms of aligning with a Druidic Practice is in it's purest form an awareness of giving what we can when we can and hoping that it lands somewhere where it is needs. A prayer, a plant, a forest. It is about leaving something better than we found it.

Yours in the woodlands and wild places,

Mags Black.