English people are uptight. There’s no getting away from this. The hardest thing for us to do is loosen up, express ourselves directly, and have fun. We still think we have to run an empire…the collective psyche lags behind real events by centuries.
If you’ve had this upbringing and you’re interested in spirituality then you’re likely to have a double dose of this characteristic. And if you lead a spiritual group and write serious books then forget loosening up…
This was the quandary I found myself in until I discovered the arcane art of blogging. Just as the spiritual path can be characterised as the ongoing attempt to both remember yourself and forget yourself, so blogging can be seen as a challenge to both be more personal, more open, more sharing of the riches of a life and at the same time to take yourself less seriously, to let go of the concern about what other people might think about you, and to reveal rather than conceal your curiosity and amazement at the often crazy world you find yourself in.
I spend much of my days writing ’serious’ material that must fit into particular structures: books, articles, and workshop schedules. So to balance this, I am using this blog as a play-space: a place to relax and have fun – to share some of the strange, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious material that comes my way. And it’s also a place to share ideas…
The main focus of the blog is spirituality in its widest sense, and I believe one of the most important tasks for us today is to infuse our spiritual questing with humour and joy. Without humour we lose our humility, without joy a spiritual path becomes dry with the dead hand of piousness.
For me, a spirituality needs the glorious world of Nature and the joy of laughter in plentiful supply. If these qualities appeal to you, I hope some of this blog will be interesting and entertaining for you!
If you’ve flown in from a google search and want to know who this writer is, have a look here.
With very best wishes,
Philip Carr-Gomm
P.S. The banner on this blog features a photo of a local sacred site – The Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex. This great chalk figure evokes three central ideas for me: the idea of our need for balance – and in the context of this blog this involves balancing serious, and thought-provoking material with humorous and entertaining material. The other idea is that of ‘Gateways’ which is central to a spiritual path. Each tradition will speak about this in different ways – as an example, in the Jain tradition the 24 great teachers are known as Tirthankaras, which means ‘Ford-makers’ – suggesting they help create a bridge/ford/gateway between this and the Otherworld, between normal consciousness and a spiritualised consciousness. The founder of the Baha’i religion was known as ‘the Bab’ which means ‘gate’. In Druidry, natural features or deliberately placed stones or trees form magical gateways that can help us access other realities, and here in the Sussex landscape is a figure who seems to be creating a gateway for us, reminding us of Novalis’ statement that ‘Visible and invisible, two worlds meet in man.’ I write about this in some detail in The Druid Way.
The third idea this image evokes is that it is important now for us to become aware of our local sacred sites, rather than falling into the ’spiritual consumerist’ trap of flying off to sacred sites around the world regularly. Last year I finished researching a book called Sacred Places, to be published by Quercus/Borders in May 08 in the USA and August 08 in the UK. I discovered that spiritual tourism is now a huge industry, and that we need to address the issues this involves. I’ve created a website on this at www.sacredplaces.info
Hi Philip,
I have tagged you to list seven random and weird things about yourself, see here:
http://constantstateofflux.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/7/
looking forward to reading the results!
THx
By: TawnyHare on February 16, 2008
at 9:30 am
I was brought to your site by an email about the Extraordinary Woman you’ve featured.
I really appreciate what I’ve read so far, and will continue to dip in as able.
By: RaeVynn on September 11, 2008
at 3:59 pm
Great RaeVynn. I hope you enjoy the posts and the comments too!
By: Philip Carr-Gomm on September 11, 2008
at 4:17 pm
Uptight indeed. I run laughter workshops and my friend Madan Kataria, founder of laughter yoga, stopped coming here because he said he found the brits the ‘toughest nut to crack.’
Spiritual = serious in many people’s minds. Shame really, so much insight comes from lightness and playfulness, goofing around even. People often pay lip-service to the role of the trickster gods and the cosmic fool, and still resist accessing that side of themselves. Such closed-off-ness is a loss to us all, most of all YOU.
What about the idea that the primordial sound of the universe is the chuckle of the great creative spirit?
By: joe hoare on October 27, 2008
at 4:05 pm
Hi Philip,
I’m reading your book at the mo (The Druid way) and I’m enrolled on the Bardic course with the OBOD.
After watching the documentary on Prince Charles tonight on the BBC, it was wonderful to see:
he plants and loves trees;
he campaigns through his charities for farmers to produce non GM foods and adopt a more organic method in their approach to farming;
he loves gardening and loves his plot;
he believes in the power of humanity;
he says, in a quite admirable way, that he campaigns for Nature because who else will;
he believes in regeneration and investment in the natural world;
he is a philosopher, a man on an epistemological path to make change;
he campaigns for action against global warming and the felling of the rain forest;
he argues against large carbon footprints we create;
he is a a patron of the Arts;
he has a love of music, Art and dance,
has a wish for peace and the beautiful earth we live in;
he strives to tell the truth of how we as a collective are destroying the planet;
he loves the animal kingdom;
and he tells a great story and captures an audience through his tales, his philosophy and wisdom.
… and I just wondered if the future Head of the Church of England is indeed…
a ‘Druid’ (in the making or already made).
When I was asked what Druidry meant to me…
Well many of the things that the Future Head of the Church of England was passionate about in changing this world.. were many of the things I thought Druidry meant to me.
A thought!
BB
A
By: anntoin on November 12, 2008
at 11:03 pm
Hi Joe & Antoinn,
Yes the idea that the ‘Big Bang’ was a great roar of laughter is a fabulous one!
And yes I agree with the idea that Prince Charles is a Druid in all but name. I believe he really is a very wise and dedicated person. ‘By their works shall you know them’ clearly applies in his case!
By: Philip Carr-Gomm on November 19, 2008
at 11:32 am
Hi Philip
Just to say I enjoy the eclectic nature of the blog and feel it feeds a need for more open and earthed type of pagan spirituality.I sometimes feel that the emphasis on the spiritual life with the basics of a contempletive,compassionate root is lost among some pagan groups and it is lovely to see such an inclusive mix here. Bless you and your work.
By: steve canavan on January 21, 2009
at 9:11 pm
Thanks Steve,
It’s nice to know – it’s easy to get caught in the trap of thinking ‘No I can’t put that in – it’s too flippant!’ and then ‘Whoops I can’t put this in – it’s too solemn and high-falutin’ But of course life is a wonderful mix of the silly and the sublime, and so my philosophy is if I find something interesting, funny, just plain weird or really profound and heart-warming in it goes!
By: Philip Carr-Gomm on January 21, 2009
at 9:32 pm
Philip –
I just wanted to drop a quick note to say hello, and wish you all the best for this new year. My wife and I so enjoyed meeting you briefly at the Ashram in Glastonbury after the Winter Gathering. It was a moment of synchronicity we shall not forget!
I’ve written a bit about our honeymoon, as well as posted a new link on my site to a video that I think you’ll enjoy.
From the peace of the grove,
West
By: West on January 25, 2009
at 10:40 pm
The Celtic civilization has a lot to offer and I find many parallells in it with our Hindu culture and beliefs.
I believe that Naure, Music and poetry are three creations which are above the boundaries of religion and race and through which you can experience the divine.
By: ashodara on February 12, 2009
at 12:29 pm
Philip, I wanted to tell you how beautiful I think your book The Druid Animal Oracle is. I desperately want to get in touch with illustrator Bill Worthington to get permission from him to use one of his illustrations in a book our press is producing. Do you have his e-mail address? Or some way to get in touch with him? I would so much appreciate it.
By: Linda Wright on February 13, 2009
at 5:42 pm
Déithe dhuit!
I am writing here because I can’t seem to figure out how to contact you directly, so forgive me if this is not the place.
I often use your “Druid Animal Oracle” as a way of communicating with deity (usually Brighid), as it seems to function well as such. I usually use it to see if my offerings are sufficient to deity and what they would communicate to me (I’m a Gaelic Polytheist). And I have been getting the bear card quite often recently, and then I drew the cat and found mention of Brighid in the cat pages describing her as “daughter of the bear”, but I am having trouble finding this elsewhere. I was wondering, would you be willing to point out the source of this title for me? And maybe email it to me? I would like to go into it a bit further and see if there is any stronger of a connection between Brighid and the bear.
Go raibh maith agat!
Mise,
Brandon
By: Brandon Thai on February 14, 2009
at 5:05 am
Dear Brother Philip,
I am glad I am to see your blog page and your very relevant discussions on sacred places. Due to my year ending travels, could not mail you yet. v sorry! pl send me your e-mail id. Now just this short note!
from Kerala, South India (on tour)
By: Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor on April 27, 2009
at 12:35 pm
Hi Philip,
I’ve read most of your books and have them on the shelf. I’ve enjoyed every one of them… and look here, more stuff to read from you.
Thank you so much for your contribution to the Celtic culture. You’ve been an inspiration to me on my journey to do the same.
I’d like to formally invite you to the Celtic Friends Network. It is a free social network for people with Celtic interests. We even have a group for the OBOD there.
The address is:
http://www.celticfriendsnetwork.com
Peace be the journey,
Shane Clark
By: Shane Clark on May 16, 2009
at 7:20 pm
Hi Philip,
I love what you said about blogging as a way of creating a balance (an “Ausgleich”, I think, in German?) between the serious and the playful. I really appreciate how accessible you have made Druidry to someone like me who doesn’t really know much about it intellectually but who nonetheless feels a resonance somewhere deep within.
Although I was born in Namibia and now live in Cape Town, South Africa, I’ve always felt a strong tug towards the ‘old’ ‘Celtic’ ‘religions’, and during my first ever visit to Ireland last year when we went to some of the sacred sites (actually, pretty much throughout the island), it felt like I had come home. When I watched your video clips and started listening to the DruidCasts on the OBOD website, many of the things spoken about also struck a chord within me.
I’m trying to work up the courage to do the Bardic course (I’m amazed and thrilled that there IS in fact such a structured home study course!). I’m curious to hear whether there are any OBOD groves or seed groups in my part of the world, as I haven’t managed to find any. I gathered from the DruidCast interview with Pamela Meekings-Stewart that there are some in Australia and New Zealand, but no others in the Southern Hemisphere, and none in Africa. Is that correct?
I also heard Pamela speaking about the ways in which they had to adapt the rituals to take into account that the sun travels a different path across the sky, and that different constellations are visible from here (even the moon looks different!
I love that!). She also spoke about the need to call on different animals and plants and to incorporate elements of some of the Maori legends into their Druidic practice. So I’m curious whether and how the course OBOD offers would ‘work’ for me here in South Africa?
Any advice would be deeply appreciated.
By: Reggie on June 18, 2009
at 8:49 pm
Hi Reggie,
It feels curious replying to your post in this public way, but actually I think it’s good because the questions you ask are bound to be ones that others must be thinking too.
We have some members in South Africa (and in other African countries) and I have been invited to come your way some time to give talks and workshops. I would love to do that since I spent my childhood soaking up stories of the country: my mother lived there until she was 13 and I’m descended from Dick King, who was such an interesting figure in SA history.
I think the course would work for you because it is written in a way that recognises that Druidry is not simply a ‘Celtic spirituality’, but a spirituality of the Earth Herself, and now we need to go beyond ethnic and geographical boundaries to sense ourselves as citizens of One Earth.
My experience of working with Druidry in New Zealand (I’ve spent over 2 years there on and off) is that it can indeed work in the southern hemisphere, but it does need adaptation, which in itself helps to heal some of the complicated rifts we experience in our own sense of identity, origins and affiliations.
I hope this helps!
Many blessings,
Philip
By: Philip Carr-Gomm on June 19, 2009
at 7:24 am
Hi Philip
I really appreciate your reply, and hope it will also help others in a similar situation. I am delighted to hear there are OBOD members in South Africa – and that you have a connection to our country! AND I hope that you will indeed visit our fair shores soon.
Thank you for the taking the time to explain things so clearly.
Wishing you a long life of joyful spirituality
Reggie.
By: Reggie on June 23, 2009
at 1:26 pm
Dear Phillip,
I just looked with interest at your posting of photographs from the Old Straight track you inherited from your Grandfather. How interesting that he knew him. I wonder did he relay stories to you of their relationship. Was your grandfather part of the club? I learned of Alfred Watkins through beloved John Michell, who was a longtime family friend and whom I miss deeply.
The book you are writing is a subject of great interest to me. I grew up on the Kentish coast and very much felt the spirit of the land in the air, especially the pagan aspect. Many stories…
I would like to send you a link where you can read the magazine I edit and write for: http://www.avantoure.com
(The link will allow you to read the magazine, the above is just the website.)
The main feature of our next issue will be John Neal’s recollection of the wonderful friendship and collaboration he had with John Michell and it will shed light upon their discoveries in metrology and John’s greatest discovery in this area, a profound and under-acknowledged gift to the world.
Thank you for your excellent site.
Enchantment,
Suzanne Bella Trimble
By: Suzanne Bella Trimble (aka Land) on August 5, 2009
at 4:42 pm
Hi Philip
I thought I’d let you know that I have mentioned your lovely book on my blog again today at http://www.badwitch.co.uk and I have also linked to your website. I was inspired by The Book of English Magic to visit Lewes and go on a Grail quest – as it suggests.
Thanks so much for the wonderful idea. I have written about my experiences on my blog.
The Bad Witch
http://www.badwitch.co.uk
By: Bad Witch on August 28, 2009
at 8:41 am
Hello Philip,
I’ve just finished reading “The Druid’s Way” and found it an extraordinarily vital and refreshing read. It’s a book with tremendous largesse of spirit and that’s something I find very helpful.
I was brought up in a Catholic milieu but have always felt an affinity towards British spiritual traditions. It’s difficult to get that across to people sometimes but I found your book of great assistance in this respect. It posits a wide spiritual universe and that for me is the key thing.
You quote Rene Guenon and I know that’s something he wrote about a lot – that the world’s a big place and that the Divine will appear in different guises in different times and contexts. One’s perception of the sacred will be different, for instance, in the deserts of Arabia than the hills and valleys of Wales.
I’ve been called a dilletante for this view, but for me the crucial thing these days is to reach beyond the narrow perspectives of individual creeds and embrace the deeper way which lies behind them all.
That’s the challenge for the 21st century in my view. It’ll take imagination, verve and daring but what’s the point in doing anything else!
Anyway, I’ve signed up for the Introductory course (have been feeling more of a rapport with the land lately so it’s all come at a good time) and we’ll see how it goes.
Thanks again for the book. I hope to be reading more by you soon.
All the very best,
John Fitzgerald
Manchester
By: John Fitzgerald on September 23, 2009
at 6:01 pm
HI Phillip, are you really a muggletonian? I’m currently researching the sect and have come to a dead end in 1979 with phillip noakes death.
Unusual surname BTW, any connection to the Carr-Gomm who was the elephant man’s doctor’s boss????
Please get back to me on maffism@yahoo.co.uk
By: Paddy O'callaghn on September 30, 2009
at 1:30 pm