Getting Started
Each unit is linked to one of the 12 or 13 moons in the calendar year, the work of that unit to run from the dark or new moon through its cycle of waxing and waning. The first task is perhaps to find a calendar that lists the moons of the year, making a note of when each lunar tide begins, then synchronize the moons of the course to those of the calendar.
The trick is to ensure that Leaf Dance Moon moves across Samhain, 1 November; Imbolc is within White Waking Moon, 2 February; the 1 May festival, Beltane, is within White Lady Moon; and Claim Song is the Lammas moon of 1 August. Let the others find their place, and if a moon is left unmarked, name this the Quickening Moon.
Nico in Holland has been working with the Perennial Course and created a beautiful moon mandala. His beautiful mandala can be found at: Moons with Images.
If it is too complicated for a group to meet at the start of each moon, and/or a regular calender date is preferable, begin each unit around the middle of each month, working that unit through the following 4 – 5 weeks.
It doesn’t matter where you begin; you don’t have to wait until a certain month or moon. Just find which moon you are in and dive right in to the course. A few aspects are progressive, developing over months or moons, but these will become clear and can be picked up where it makes sense and feels appropriate.
As to how much time is spent on the course: my advice would be to put aside a period of time every morning to work on the unit, stopping part way through the day to reconnect with the teaching, then reviewing in the evening. About an hour a day is a very fine goal.
Reading Via E-book
Reading the course via a portable electronic device allows one to experience the course almost anywhere without the inconvenience of printing onto paper or having internet access. We currently support the Amazon Kindle and you can download the course here. Simply save this file into the appropriate area of your device.
Printing the Course
The course units can be printed off the website as pages. However, we’ve also provided here a pdf version of the course, without photographs. This file includes the entire course, running to 42 pages. Units can be printed off as and when required.
Please note that copyright of this course remains with Emma Restall Orr (Bobcat) and permission must be granted before any of this material is taken, printed, copied or published elsewhere, other than for private use.
Notes About The Course
Through most of these units, there are a number of questions, some small and some dealing with the major issues of life. Choose one or two in each on which to focus most fully.
Festival: Each of these units has a festival written into it. If it doesn’t quite fall within the moon period you are studying, work on its meaning nonetheless, using the time to prepare for the festival in the coming moontide. The unit doesn’t tell us how to celebrate the festival. Ideas, information and guidance about how to celebrate in ritual can easily be found in other courses, books and websites. Instead the course works simply on the fundamental ideas to consider at this time, ideas which can be woven into a ritual or group celebration.
Humanity: Recognizing honourable relationship to be fundamental to the practice of Druidry, this element of the unit focuses our attention upon how we are relating to other human beings. it guides us to work more deeply on our understanding of human nature, within ourselves, those around us and all humanity.
Environment: This part of the unit is to encourage relationship with the living non-human spirits we share this world with. It encourages us to be aware of the trees, plants and other creatures that feel most alive, awake and influential in our environment during the moon cycle we are moving through. Spending time in the garden, meadows, fields, parks, or even simply looking out of the window, we see and feel whose energy is most prominent. Before heading for magical books, our field guides are crucial: study its nature, its cycles, habits and needs. How and what is it teaching you? Can a relationship be created?
Creativity: The piece about creativity in each unit is not something to do just now and then, when we think about it through the moontide; it is as important as any other part of the unit. Filling our allotted time with this element of study makes an enormous difference to how we see and hear the world, and how we language and voice our response to it.
Ethics: Living Druidry is about walking our talk, adjusting our behaviour as we learn deeper consciousness and connection. This aspect of the unit suggest ways in which we might shift our lives, habits and attitudes, in order to live with what the Druid calls honour. The course is designed to allow us formulate just what that word might mean. For – like love and truth – honour is a word that takes a lifetime and more to understand. Just when we feel we have a glimpse of its meaning, life changes and we realize the word has even greater depths.
