I have recently embarked on a spiritual adventure to find what calls to me, what inspires my soul and helps me to grow spiritually. My ancestral background is Christianity, mainly the Church of England. While I agree with most of the basic tenets of Christianity, some things from the Bible and from the religion as a whole, do not suit me. I believe that humans are not the only lifeforms with a soul – I believe all animals have a soul. To a certain extent I believe that everything has a soul, or a consciousness of its own on some level. I like the idea that there is a spirit of all things, for all things. I don’t agree with the idea that humans have dominion over animals and nature, we are on the same level. To me, much of the Bible and Christianity is based on fear and a belief that humans are evil sinners who must repent and bow down to God in order to have their souls saved. There are many other aspects of Christianity that don’t sit well with me, but I don’t want that to be the point of this post.
After a long time of feeling like something was missing spiritually, I started looking at nature-based beliefs which is how I came across Druidry. I’d read a bit about it before and was interested but never took it further. It called to me enough to buy a few books on Druidry including The Awen Alone by Joanna van der Hoeven and The Path of Druidry by Penny Billington. I highly recommend both if you are interested in learning more about druidry. I’ve just started reading Zen Druidry, also by Joanna van der Hoeven and am enjoying it immensely; the combination of Zen and mindfulness combined with the nature base of druidry really feels right to me. I’m still reading a lot, still trying different things and giving it a great deal of thought and soul searching. I think that is the best thing that anyone can do – go with your instinct and what feels right for you. As long as what you believe in doesn’t cause harm to any life and doesn’t impinge on another’s rights, you’re golden.
One of the things I have been trying is using Tarot and Oracle cards as a starting point for soul searching and inspiration. A way to get in touch with my inner voice and start to learn to trust my instincts. The first set I bought is the Black Cats Tarot which calls to me so much! It is on its way from overseas and I cannot wait to get it! In the meantime, I really wanted to tarot out so I bought the Bleu Cats Tarot. Then a few days later the desire to have more cards won out and I bought the Tarot of Pagan Cats, Power of Flowers oracle cards and Mystical Cats Tarot. Squee! I love them! The cards are such pretty thing in themselves and are enjoyable simply to look at. I’ve yet to use Mystical Cats but shall do that tomorrow. I’m only new at exploring this area but I am really enjoying it. It has led to some good soul searching and clarity of thought.