Hello, today I just want to talk about how I am studying to become a druid. Now Max,
aren't you already a druid? Yes, yes I am. Let's talk about that...
[Intro music]
So I am studying the OBOD druidry course- specifically I'm starting at their bard
grade because that's just how it works. So OBOD is The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, the
course is split into three levels, I'm also not sponsored by the way, I'm just talking about how
this particular bit of the course works, so the course is split into three levels and each level,
uh, well- the bard course- I don't know about the other two yet because I haven't got there, but the
bard level especially comes as 52 lessons or Gwersi, sorry if that's mispronounced. You get 52 little booklets
which contain lessons and activities and little tidbits of wisdom, and these booklets are enough
for one per week over the course of a year. However, you are encouraged to do this at your own pace and
that is exactly what I'm doing. You don't have to complete all three levels to call yourself a druid.
So I'm doing the bardic grade, I'm still a druid, I'm studying druidry. This is how specifically
I'm studying the OBOD bardic course and how I am studying druidry as a whole including
but not limited to the OBOD course. It's also worth noting this is kind of a disclaimer that OBOD asks
you not to discuss the course details like at all and in depth because it can kind of affect other
people's own journey, so if I were to tell you that my favourite colour is green because it makes me
feel what- this is a really bad comparison, but it makes me feel wonderful, it symbolizes growth and
life to me, and it feels super fresh, and it looks like mint tastes. You are then going to- well you
might then associate looking at green with mint things, again this is a really bad comparison, but
to preserve the individuality of the experiences that you can have and the opinions you can form
and the results of some meditations and exercises, we just don't really talk about it
that much. Um, you could talk about it like with other people that have done the same thing, but
don't give it away to newbies, so I'm not gonna do that, this isn't that. This is just how I am
studying, to be druid this is a four minute intro so far, editing max- sorry. I'm going to start with
the actual course itself which I keep in this lovely little box with leaves on it because
druidry is about, to me, getting in touch with nature and trees and I-
they didn't have trees but these leaves have come- some of these leaves have come off of trees.
It's also just like a nice little box to have it in. this is where I keep
all of my course study materials, and I'm not even going to show you some of them, good job Max.
So I have a little tracker which I'm also not going to show you because it's
for me, but I will show you this. This has nothing to- well, this notebook did not come from
the order of bards ovates and druids, this notebook came from a stationary subscription because I have
no self-control with my own adult money, and I- I'm a notetaker, just as a scientist I've-
I've always taken notes when I study stuff, so when I'm studying druidry I'm taking notes,
I'm not going to show you the notes, and it's not required of the course, but I just take notes on
things I find interesting, things that I might want to read outside and not necessarily have to bring
the correct booklet with me, so this is just like a compilation of really cool things and thoughts
and things to think about that I'll just take with me on a walk so I don't have to pick up, say,
this many of the booklets, when I could just pick up this one and have it in there. Um, and it's also
just really pretty and it's got sea things on the front and I like sea things. And this is not
the one right way to do it, that's just one thing that I find helpful because I have memory problems
as a disabled person with brain fog sometimes, it just really helps me to have some stuff
written down, so that's what I've done but the most important way that I study
the OBOD of course is by doing it in my own time. I have not been following one booklet a week, I have
barely been following one booklet a month because part of the journey is not rushing and taking
the time that is natural to you to process all of the things, and to think about the
things, and to really kind of get to grips with it, and there's some things in the courses that
I have been like 'oh that's interesting, I want to do a bit more of a deep dive' and then I've done
like three weeks of looking into this one very niche like point of interest, um, so that has been
yeah it's designed to go at your own pace, it's designed to go no sooner than
a year but it's designed to take you as long as it takes, and I'm really
glad that it does that because there's no pressure for me to be like oh no I'm behind,
um, so that's all I'm really gonna say on that and I really hope that that's not been-
that I've not said too much to colour anyone's opinion of what the OBOD course is. So that's
step number one of how I'm studying to become a druid, let's put this down somewhere safe.
Another thing that I've been doing is I've been listening to podcasts. I was never really much of
a podcast fan because you know, being- being deaf doesn't help, not really a listening to no video
kind of thing, but OBOD does druid cast which is a druidry podcast and they do monthly episodes
where they don't talk about course content, they just talk about interesting things and I
consider myself late to the party- I'm not late to the party, but they have got
so many episodes, they have like years and years of episodes just available, they're just there
and I just listen to them when I'm walking to a cat's house, when I'm tidying my room,
when I just want to feel a bit more connected to my faith, and my druidry if I am away from my
OBOD course material and my notebook I can just turn on druid cast and pick an episode
that I like. And it's always very insightful because they do like walking and talks- what
is it- walk the talk? Talk the walk? Something about walking and talking, and the guests they always
like- not always because c-word happened so they had to do it online a little bit,
but a lot of the episodes are done while they're walking through somewhere fun and then you get
like a bit of history about a place that you've never been to and some of them describe the
surroundings so beautifully that I can picture it in my head even though I'm not there, it's
almost like image describing the walk, it's really great, and then you also get like the added bonus
of sometimes there's like background noise so really loud birds tweeting very occasionally,
or the wind. A lot of people don't like the wind noise but it's kind of really grounding to me, it's
like 'oh wow these are real people going on a real walk' which I really enjoy. So I've been using that
to supplement my uh OBOD course, and obviously reading books! I've got a big stack of books
you can see off frame a little bit- I've got a big stack of books that I
have been reading and well, more collecting than reading I'm not gonna lie to you, um... [book falls]
It's fine, um, but I have these books, some of them I've been reading, some of them I have not yet read
and some of them I've read bits of, um, because I- I'm still working on the reading regularly thing,
it's something I really want to do, but books have been really helping so, um, this one, Pagan Portals...
Pagan Portals, The Cailleach by Rachel Patterson, I'm about halfway through this one because she's like,
well The Cailleach is my goddess of choice- she chose me, however you want to say it, then I have another one
about The Cailleach which I've not even started yet. Celtic myths and legends because obviously druidry
goes back really far, I've always been interested in Celtic history Celticness... Celtic pantheon...
It's all really good and I think this is a really interesting book to have alongside that, and then
this is a book that I had when I first started out in paganism, so I think I got this when I was
about 16 or 17. I still lived in Cornwall then, um, and this was like my first 'druidry is really
interesting, I really want to get into it' but I struggled to read this book a little bit, I need
to go back and do it because it's written in a style that at the time I really struggled to read,
but I think now that I'm kind of a bit older and I've been reading so much science that can be
a little dry, um, I think I will get on much better with it now, especially because of all
the historical content that I've been learning through druid cast and all the forums online
and just research deep diving which I'll get on to in a minute. So I think I will have a better time
reading this, but it's on my list, and then Sacred Actions by Dana O'Driscoll, um, this is like a wheel,
this is wheel of the year book and the cover's really nice it's like brown paper it's really cool,
um, so you don't have to start this at chapter one and druid cast did an episode
talking to Dana about the book which I listened to and it was great, and I've read a little bit
of it but not as much as I want to, um, and yeah, so this is another book that I've been doing, so we go
through each- each chapter is one of the wheels of the year- one of the the festivals if that's
what you want to call them, um, going through winter solstice, imbolc, spring equinox which I should have read
beltane which I will definitely be reading in the next month so I hope, summer solstice, lughnasadh,
fall equinox, samhain, and a conclusion. Um so this is gonna be really really interesting, I wish I could
say that I've read any of those all the way through, I haven't, I recommend all of them though
even though I've not read all of them. I'll- I'll put titles and authors down in the description
below if you're interested, but like, this is not really an endorsement it's just what I'm using and
if you're interested go have a look. Another way that I've been studying to be a druid is just
spending time outside with green things, trees, and just existing as a person outside, uh, I
want to say meditating but it's not really been meditating because I'm not very good at meditating,
but just taking a minute to just be outside. The other day I lay down in like a patch of daffodils
and it was the most at peace I have been in about six months, it was a fantastic seven and a half
minutes, um, so I've just been doing that to really like connect and disconnect from just the stresses
of my life, there are some believe me, there are many, my life is stressful. You probably don't think it is,
but it is, which kind of leads me on to my last point, is just doing deep dives in things that
interest me about druidry, because obviously with the OBOD course it's written- it's given to you in
a certain order with the intent that you follow it in that order, and there are reasons for that,
but sometimes the next lesson in the course is not something that makes my heart sing in that
particular moment, um, it's like when you're at school and you've just come out of, for me it was
biology, for others it might be music or art, and then you've gone into a subject that you really
don't like very much, and it's not that I don't like the course content, it's like I'd rather do
something else. So I just do something else so that I can really kind of- because I don't want to study
out of resentment, I don't want to feel anything negative about what I'm about to be studying, I
want to go into it with an open mind, not uh 'oh god I can't be bothered for this today'. If you can't be
bothered don't do it. Do something else. And then lastly, actually lastly, I've been attending some
of the local, um, druid based rituals and moots. In Nottingham we have the Robin Hood moot which was,
um, run by a druid, but it was multi-faith and the open ritual kind of took on a Druidic kind of, uh,
algorithm, um, it was very druidy, um, and it worked for everyone. It wasn't just like you have to be
a druid for this or you have to be Wiccan or like, I don't know it was great it worked for everyone.
So I went to one of those, I went to a couple of those but one of them really, uh, just hanging out
with other druids and talking to other druids, engaging in like Facebook conversations, this is
no longer a finally is it, this is just a list of things I can't be bothered to talk about,
um, but I'm in some other Facebook groups for druids and pagans as a whole like learning
about other people's paths I think is very important, and just practising kindness because
druidry is also about kindness and justice and happiness and peace. Peace most importantly, so
I have been trying to practice peace where I can. So that's how I have been studying to be a druid,
if you have any questions put them down in the comments section down below, and don't forget to
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with at least one bonus video every single month. I want a new outro because I hate saying that. See ya!
[Blue Skies instrumental]