Reflection and Druidry

Nimue Brown

February 27

(Nimue)

There aren't many things I'm dogmatic about, but the importance of reflection and contemplation for anyone on the Druid path is definitely one of those things. There are a great many ways of approaching this,however, so it's not very prescriptive in practice.

Reflection is key to understanding. If life is going to be more than a series of random things that happen to us, then we need to take the time to reflect on our experiences and how those experiences impact on us. Making considered and deliberate choices depends on this.

It's all too easy to be a consumer - we can consume nature, landscape, spiritual experience, spiritual merch… To be a Druid you have to go deeper, invest more, feel more, think more - you can't just skim the surface of life. Time spent contemplating things takes us further into them. We can approach our experiences in a contemplative way, slowing down to really invest in them, and we can contemplate after the event, internalising what we've learned.

For anyone on the bard path, reflection is essential. The process of taking what you know, and what you've experienced and developing that into something creative requires some time spent looking inwards. To put something out into the world you have to first go inside yourself to work out what to make and how to make it, and to turn the spark of inspiration into something coherent.

When we make quiet time to sit - in meditation, in reflection or in prayer, it creates space for magic. Time spent quietly inside yourself exploring your own thoughts does not cut you off from everything else, and can have the opposite effects. In the quiet, introspective moments we are most likely to get flashes of inspiration, and connection with that which goes beyond our everyday thinking. If you have a notion of 'higher self' or of the voice of spirit within you, this is when such parts of yourself are most likely to be visible to you. For those who seek communion with deity, or spirit, the process of turning inwards is the process that invites the divine.

When you turn inwards to reflect on the world, and your experience of it, you become more able to fully engage with the world. We need both, and we need to explore these things as a shifting dance, and interchange. We bring the world into ourselves, and we bring ourselves into the world and at each stage, reflection gives us the means to do so.