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In the DCW we are taught that “the Craft needs no defense.” Often times this is cited as a justification for not getting into discussions or arguments about the Craft with others, however, the true meaning of this saying goes much deeper than most are willing to delve. While it is wise to not get into arguments about faith this does not mean that you shouldn’t engage in discussion about it. You should feel comfortable sharing ideas with those who are open to comparison, discussion and a scholarly exchange (while respecting any oaths of secrecy that you might have taken as well.) This can often times open up deeper levels of meaning and understanding in your own spirituality.
Discussion does not equal defense, and yet this association is often tied together in people’s minds. This often stems from the old saying “we need to talk” or “we need to discuss something” being used as an intro to some kind of argument. Discussion is not argument. Discussion is a sharing of ideas, a back and forth, mutually achieving a deeper appreciation of the other’s perspective. An argument is an attack/defend style of communication (if I even dare to call it communication) that seeks to prove one thing or the other. This later style of communication is what “The Craft needing no defense” is really about. In this case the saying “you don’t need to prove the Craft right” is more appropriate to use. The Craft should stand alone in its efficacy and legitimacy and if it doesn’t, evidence will arise showing its shortcomings. If in discussion shortcomings arise, the members of that tradition should learn to adapt, adjust and bend to find the best ways to meet their people’s needs while still staying true to the heart of the tradition they are practicing. Refusal to engage in discussion results in fundamentalism, repression of ideas and eventually an exodus of its members.
But the true meaning of “the Craft needing no defense” lies in its members. The members are the Craft. The statement then tells us to live fearlessly being true to who we are. In this case the best way to read the statement would be “the members of the Craft need no defense.” We have no need to prove our nature of being as right. Our way works for us, and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t mean we can’t discuss our way. It doesn’t mean we can’t exchange ideas with other people about why we practice our ways in the manner we do. It most certainly doesn’t mean we don’t need to explain ourselves to anybody. What it does mean is “what works for me, works for me, I don’t need to prove it to anyone and what works for you, works for you, you don’t need to prove that to anyone.” Our WAYS don’t need proving, they work. If someone wants to discuss our ways, DO IT! If someone wants to exchange practices and ideas, DO IT! But, if someone wants to argue with you and prove you are wrong, then “you need no defense.” Don’t waste your energy arguing with someone who’s trying to prove you wrong. You have proof that your way works for you and that should be sufficient.
In essence, the axiom “the Craft needs no Defense” is a great piece of advice telling us that any kind of argument (in the sense of trying to prove you’re right and the other person is wrong) is something you just don’t need to waste your time with. But don’t make the common mistake of thinking that this means you shouldn’t have to explain or discuss your religion in any way. Healthy discussion, an honest exchange of ideas, is often one of the best ways to deepen your own spiritual understanding and even reach higher levels of wisdom by seeing the greater patterns repeated throughout spiritual traditions around the world.
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It is human nature to make things seem grander or greater in retrospect, than they actually were at their time of occurance. It is tied into our innate ability to forget the faults in things and inherently stay optimistic. When this happens it is literally a case of the old story where “the fish that got away” gets progressively larger and more impressive with each re-telling of the story.
This process also affects our perceptions of historic individuals. We tend to romanticize leaders from the past and paint them in a greater light (or a darker shadow, for that matter) than their actual manner of being was at the time. The same thing happens to spiritual or religious leaders from the past – especially the ones who founded traditions. This often births the “Cult of Personality” – where people are much more interested in singing the praises of an individual leader and everything that he did, instead of listening to the words he wrote and honoring his memory by walking the walk. Personally, any time I hear someone say “Brother John did this” or “Brother John was a visionary” or “Brother John was a man of great vision, thank God for him, because I’m a better person for what he wrote” (or some variation of that) I cringe. There is a greater emphasis placed on a single person outside of one’s self than there is on the actual process of living a path of self-improvement. Frankly, most of what people say or remember about past spiritual leaders is so skewed from reality that I often just don’t give it any merit.
One of the things that often happens in the Druidic Craft of the Wise, is that all of this emphasis is placed upon our founder, Father Eli, and what he said, taught and did. In my experience, I find this to be a great mistake for two reasons. First, it creates a belief of who he was, when in fact most of us never met him save for a scant few from the first days of our tradition’s founding. We in the Craft are taught to question and discard beliefs if they don’t match our personal experience. Secondly it places the measure of a tradition’s validity in the hands of a past figure who is no longer around instead of in the hands of those who are actually walking the path this very day. Please do not misunderstand. I am grateful for the path that Father Eli created for us and what it has done for my life, but I don’t credit him for the improvements in my life and I don’t measure the validity of this path according to who he was or how he lives. I credit myself for walking the path, for doing the difficult self-improvement work and I measure the validity of this tradition by how my life has improved and how others who are currently participating in the religion have done the same. What makes the DCW a good path to follow are the people who are currently walking it and how they have improved their lives by doing the work which Father Eli taught. It is the members who make the Craft alive, powerful and valid, not the founder nor any individual leader in the tradition.
As a teacher in the Craft my greatest desire is for my students to out-perform me, out-shine me and rise to a level of perfection and awareness that puts mine to shame. How humbling and what a blessing would it be for a student of mine to excel beyond her wildest dreams, and to know that I assisted her in some way, but that ultimately she did it on her own. That is the desire of a true teacher – for their student to excel – not for the student to be dependent on the teacher for life. Frankly, my greatest desire would be for my Fellows to evolve to the point where they just don’t need me any more – they “get it” on their own. That would be the greatest service I could give them as their priest – to help point them toward spiritual enlightenment then watch them attain it on their own.
So ask yourself, “Am I worshipping a figurehead or am I worshipping the divine within myself? Am I walking in someone else’s footsteps, or am I daring to tread the unwalked path, fearlessly on my own, seeking enlightenment?” No one can take your hand and lead you to spiritual bliss but yourself. No leader, no founder of a religion, no teacher can do this for you. Solely you can make your awareness happen. Only you can walk that path, and it is your own actions and your own self-accomplished results, that can prove the validity of the work you do.
In the Druidic Craft of the Wise, we conceive of deity as having two primary parts: the Father and the Mother. They are complimentary to one another; a pair. The Father is the projective, masculine principle of deity, while the Mother is the receptive, feminine principle of deity.
The Father is seen as the source of all energy. He is the active principle that radiates out his energy to the Mother, and is often depicted as the Sun shining his brilliance out to the Earth. The Mother, typically depicted as the Earth, receives the Father’s energy and uses it to manifest life. Without the Mother, the Father is merely a barren ball of light, and without the Father, the Mother is cold and lifeless. The two act in unison to create life.
We do not place a cultural lens over the Mother and Father and as such do not subscribe to any particular pantheon in our practices. If a member feels more drawn or connected to a particular culture, he can certainly refer to the Mother and Father by pantheon-specific names. The important thing to keep in mind is the polar relationship between the Mother and Father and how they are reflected in any culture’s representations thereof.
The Mother and Father live within each of us first and foremost. We are their divine children, and like our mortal parents, we carry their spiritual DNA within us. Consequently, we each have the potential to evolve and grow into the likeness of our parents. Within each of us, the Father is the active principle that initiates ideas, desires and plans, while the Mother is the receptive principle that gives those ideas form and nurtures them into manifestation. We can also look at the Father as our minds, and the Mother as our Hearts or “guts” and that when we merge these two parts of ourselves together, we experience a wholeness – a sacred marriage – that brings us into our own power as creators of our reality.
What the Craft teaches its students are exercises, practices and philosophies to unlock this potential within each individual and help him or her grow to become the grandest vision of their highest potential. If you look within yourself first to find the divine, then you’ll come to realize who you really are and what you can really do in this world. You’ll move away from a belief that the divine is something separate from you, and toward the knowledge that you are actually a God in the making and that you create your reality, your life, your experience with every word, thought and deed.
In the Druidic Craft of the Wise, we recognize that we are all children of the Divine Father and that as his children, we also contain a portion of his powers and abilities. The Father and Mother, created all of reality and as such, we too have the ability to create our realities as we see fit. In our Legends, we are told that the Father and Mother, used the power of his thoughts to manifest the Universe into creation. We, too, can harness the power of our thoughts to effect change in our world – this is Magic.
We are growing and evolving with each moment and experience in our lives. As we grow and perfect, we come closer to a level of awareness where we finally realize that we are divine like our Father and Mother. Part of the way we can accelerate the perfection process is through the use of Magic, for it reconnects us with our birthright as creators of our world around us. The more we experience our ability to create the more we see our own divinity. This ability belongs to and can be cultivated by anyone – it is our heritage.
Magic can be as complex or as easy as you want. Ultimately it is merely a process of focusing your thoughts in the proper way in order to see things as you want them to transpire. Some people call this creative visualization, others consider it reciting affirmations. Ultimately when it comes to magic, if you can see it then you can create it. Many artists confirm that the artistic process really isn’t that different, because if the artist can “see” what she wants to paint before she touches brush to canvas, then it will come into manifestation in no time.
But in order to be an effective Magician, you must cultivate your ability to “see” things. This requires that you first learn how to perceive things around you. When was the last time you really observed your world with awareness and focus? Next time you head out on the street, take time to observe everything around you in silence. What clothes are people wearing? What does the air feel like as it moves through your hair? What color are the leaves of each plant you pass? What does it look like when two people are in love together? What does a person at peace look like? All of this information comes together like a library of experiences that you can then draw upon when it comes time to “see” your reality that you elect to create. The more you can observe (with all five senses), the more you can draw upon in your Magic crafting.
When you want to effect change in your life it is merely a matter of seeing in your mind what you want to manifest. If you want to get a particular new car, you had better know what it looks like inside and out, what it smells like inside, how the steering wheel feels in your grip, how the car pushes you back in the seat when you drive it, etc. Picture yourself in that car, owning it, unlocking the door with your set of keys and parking it in your own driveway. “See” with all five senses and from multiple perspectives and your Magic will be more effective. A bit more goes into crafting magic than merely seeing it, but it is one of the most crucial steps involved in the process.
Many other religions call this type of work prayer. Instead of making it happen on their own, they instead plea to “the Father” for it, and then they pray “in someone else’s name”. The problem with pleading for something in someone else’s name is that it inherently devalues your own word, your own value as a divine child of the Father and it pulls you farther away from realizing your own potential to create – your own divinity. Once you realize that you are a God in the making, that you are a divine being, you see that your own name and your own vision are just as valid as someone elses and that you don’t need to ask the divine to manifest things for you, because you ARE the divine. Just make magic happen and realize your own Godhood in the process.
With this power comes responsibility. In the Druidic Craft of the Wise we never use the power of Magic to harm. In fact, we take oaths to never use the power to harm or cause anyone physical pain. I have actually found that Magic cannot actually be used to harm anyone because harmful Magic never leaves the Magician’s body. It merely festers within him and causes his own reality to erode into a very sad state, very quickly. Magic is not about causing harm, it is about causing change for the positive and becoming more enlightened and perfect in the process. It is a tool for self-empowerment and self-evolution. It is one way you can grow in wisdom and work toward understanding your true nature effectively.
