Aontacht - Volume 7 Issue 3

that so important and what benefits come fromlearning to know and love yourself?JvdH: We have so many distractions available to usin today's world. I am thankful that we did not havemobile phones when I was young. Video games werejust coming out, and it was usually always moreenticing to go outside and play than sit and play on theAtari. Today's mobile phones allow people to "beconnected" with everyone all the time, when really allthey are doing are causing us to be more and moreisolated, experiencing the world only through virtualrelationships.Technology is wonderful, but it is a tool. Too manyare using it as a crutch, being passively needful of it,rather than actively using it as a tool. Every time I goout to the pub or out for dinner with my husband weare amazed at how everyone is sitting together at atable, but no one is even looking at each other, muchless talking to each other. They're all heads down, ontheir phones.The situation is perhaps even worse in that somepeople just don't know how to be alone anymore. Ican't even begin to count how many people I see incheckout lines, unable to even spend one minutestanding in line on their own without looking at theirphones. At the pub, when their friend goes to the loo,they're straight on their phones. What is so frighteningabout spending a few minutes alone?When we are alone, we have time to process. We don'tget that opportunity when we are with others, for weare interacting with them, receiving and transmittinginformation, feelings and emotions. Only when westep back can we regroup, have a chance to process itall, and see how it reflects in our own lives.Again, it also comes down to silencing the chatteringmind. Only when we are still and quiet will we be ableto hear the songs of the wider world. If we aredistracted by checking others' Facebook statuses, we'llnever actually be in the real world, hearing the musicof life. We'll live like ghosts, empty wandering ghostswith little substance, never really able to become real,corporeal, alive.DD: Working with your sister college in Maine(USA) you and Robin Herne established the DruidCollege UK this last February. While other Druidgroups and Orders have taken a different approach,the sole intent of the Druid College is to preparePriests of Nature. Can you provide the thinkingbehind such an approach and why it is so importantnow, in these current days?JvdH: Druid College really is the brainchild of mycolleague, Kevin Emmons from Maine. It was hisinspiration to prepare priests of nature. His approachwas that there are too many followers in Paganism,as opposed to leaders, or at least those willing to workintentionally rather than passively. It today's societywe are still working with the legacy of a church-goingbackground, where all you did was turn up and bepart of the congregation. For some, perhaps that isenough. But with Druid College, for those who wantmore, who are questing active relationship withnature, that is what we hope to provide a pathtowards.DD: According to the College, the role of the priestis not to act as an intermediary, but to “live a life inservice, crafting a sacred relationship with the land,the ancestors and the gods. It requires service to thecommunity as well as the land.” Can you tell us moreabout your views on the role and value of service toa Druid?JvdH: For me, being a Druid is all about service.Relationship is a two-way street. It is give and take,in a cyclical, sustainable way. Druidry is all aboutquesting the awen, finding inspiration. If we keep itto ourselves, how does that make it Druidry? Druidryreveres nature, and nature does not keep to itself. Thetrees give us oxygen and take our carbon dioxide.The sun gives its life-giving light and warmth. Therain falls and allows the green thing to grow. Theydo this without discrimination. They work as a unit,knowing how to function best. Some might dismissthis as simply "chemical reactions" but to an animistthere is more there; there is an inherent sacredness,a deep consciousness to everything that we hold areverence for. This is our inspiration to continue thecycle of giving as well as receiving.Aontacht • 29