Introductions - where are you from?

This is a space to introduce yourself as an individual or as a group, find people close by or with similar interests. Feel free to share as much or as little about yourself as you would like to, but here is a guide:
Name:
Living in:
Interests within Druidry:
Came to this site because...:

Hi everyone!
I'm Julie :-)
I'm from Sydney, Australia. I've been studying Druidry since 2007 when I lived in Glastonbury in the UK for awhile. I have been pagan in a more general sense though since 1999. I love Druidry for its deep connection with the spirit of nature and the "wisdom of the trees". I find it is a beautiful spiritual tradition that helps me to feel more in tune with the world around me and enables me to see the magic in all things. I am particularly interested in exploring Druidry as it manifests outside of the British Isles and have done a lot of work on Druidry in Australia.
Some other things...
I started the group Druids Down Under on facebook in 2008
I have a little blog on my Australian Druidry studies that was mostly written in 2009: druidsdownunder.blogspot.com
I run the Sydney Druids Meet Up
I did a Bachelor of Arts degree in religions with a focus on neopaganisms, Celtic and Scandinavian mythologies and culture, magic, and the new age at Sydney University finishing in June 2010.

So.... I'm a bit into this! I'm happy to help people in any way I can and look forward to getting to know everyone :-)
Welcome to the forum!

HI Julie and everyone else,
I'm Becki from Sydney, im tree hugging dirt worshiper who when not at work (medical secretary)can be found in my garden or wandering around local bushlands with my camera.

Nice to meet you all.
Becki

Hi gang!
Tanya here! *waves*

I'm just within the Gold Coast area, but since they've decided we're not cool enough for them, we're now technically part of Logan.

Apologies....but I'm afraid I'm going to have to nerd it up from here on in.
How I got into druidry is a strange and possibly unique tale.

I play World of Warcraft, and have for a few years now. For those not familiar with it, it's a MMORPG, which stands for Massive, Multiplayer, Online Role Playing Game. There's been ads on tv and everything. The one with Chuck Norris...you know the one!
Anyway....there are many class types you can play in the game. You can be a warrior or paladin or even a rogue, and beat monsters over the head, or shiv them in the ribs. Or..or you choose a spell caster type, like a mage, a shaman or a druid. Guess which one I chose? Lol! It was actually thought the guild I'm part of within the game that I have met some of the most wonderful life-changing people you could ever hope to meet. Yes....adults play this game as well....lots of them! One of them...was a druid.

Now he didn't actually play a druid ingame, as he considered it "too tacky" lol, (I don't care, I still love turning into a bear, a cat and a crow - it's amazing! I have learned stuff you wouldn't believe!) however, he did kindle my interest in the whole thing as he told me about it in more and more detail. When he stopped playing the game and was difficult to reach (the guy had a terrible run of bad luck) I started researching it myself.
I found the OBOD course, but didn't take it at the time, due to a lack of money. A few months earlier, fortune fell into my lap (via a very random gift) with more than enough money to pay for the entire course straight up, both reading material and CDs. I could have blown it on a great number of things, lol! but I took the huge hint the universe was giving me and paid for the course.
I am currently up to envelope number 5, and by that I mean...I have them. Still about 3 lessons behind. I'll catch up one of these days.

I can also do lvl 2 reiki, (original lineage) which I also discovered through these special, wonderful people. Lvl 1, I travelled to Mackay a few years ago to get the first attunement, but the second one was given to me free via an extremely talented reikimaster who lives in the US. Distance attunements aren't easy, and not everyone can do them, but this guy "is very strong with the force" as he puts it, lol! He nearly knocked me out! Felt good though, as usual
I don't have much opportunity to practice it (it gets deadly boring doing it on yourself) so if there's anyone else out there that would like to play energy frisbee, I'd like to play. Doesn't even have to be reiki stuff....I can chuck a psy-ball as good as anyone, lol!

The druidry stuff I am still extremely new on. All I know is that the more I looked into it, the more familiar it felt to me. It felt like "home".
I realized that this is who I've always been, for as long as I can remember. I've just never known the word for it. Now, the more I learn about it, the more things seem to slot into place, and it all makes sense. The closeness and understanding I have with trees and plants, the way animals seem attracted to me, the special little pockets in nature I find that have this "resonance" I can't explain in words. It all makes sense.
There's still an awful lot to learn, but I'm getting there.
I'm so happy that I've found this Australian druid group, as the English version really confuses me. It's all topsy-turvey for this area!
I hope to pick all of your brains, one by one...and glean whatever knowledge I can. Lol!

Looking forward to boring you with my long-winded speeches....I mean....chatting to you all.

Hugs,
T. <3


Oh...I almost forgot.
I came to this site after suggesting there should be one, as FB just wasn't quite cutting it.. Then Julie made one...and here I am!

Hiya, All!!!

I'm nestled in the western suburbs of sydney... a nice litte out of sight suburb called Claremont Meadows.

My journey has been quite long spiritual wise - only the Gods know how many lifetimes

I grew up in a family who encouraged me to find my own path - I'm a Romanichal (British Romany Gypsy) and was taught respect for the land and animals "they're the only ones that'll honestly provide and carry you through life" as my Grandad said I've explored Christianity (became a Pastor), Buddhism (was an ordained Monk in the Tibetan Sakya tradition), and studied Kabbalah with a Reform Judaism community. Through all this I read as much as I could about Druidry noting all the while a connection with my own people's tradition of living on and with the land as well as honouring the seasons.

I am now in a place where I can afford to do the OBOD Course and am receiving much food for thought. Living in Australia (having moved here from England in 1970) has been a huge shift for me in regards to embracing this country, it's climate, it's indigenous peoples, and enmeshing the spirituality of Druidry with where I am. A journey in progress.

Looking forward to many hours of discussions and 'Eisteddfods' here.

Beannachd Leibh! (bleissings)

g'day,
i'm from rural south oz, near swan reach on the river murray, where i've been living self sufficiently since 1979, keeping goats and chooks and growing veg and fruit and medicinal, culinary, and dyers herbs, with dogs, cats and pet orphan kangaroos and other assorted rescued wild-life. most of our 80 acres is untouched except for light browsing by our goats, and so is recovering from decades of sheep grazing and looking more and more beautiful each year. i see ghosts and fairies, which tend to dominate my life but i wouldn't have it any other way. i've been a druid since the late 1990s and tutored bards and ovates for OBOD for a while before devoting myself to a study of ancient texts related to the celts and their contemporaries. i study languages both modern and ancient to help me in this.

as a bard i'm a poet and novelist, artist and folksinger, singing mostly trad folk, but also some pagan songs i've written myself, and playing guitar and recorders. old ballads are my forte.
i'm a keen nature photographer, utterly charmed by the tiny flowers that bloom here in my bit of semi-desert, and gaining a photographer's rapport with the wild-life. i blog on bardry, ovatery and druidry, and on hermeneutics, the interpretation of texts.

i do acupressure and shamanic healing, and i use herbs for human and veterinary purposes, and also practice yoga and go walking in the bush.

i attend the druid assemblies as often as i can and can heartily recommend them to everyone.

( i can do capital letters, but i've got this thing about 'em. )

Feathers wrote:The druidry stuff I am still extremely new on. All I know is that the more I looked into it, the more familiar it felt to me. It felt like "home".
I realized that this is who I've always been, for as long as I can remember. I've just never known the word for it. Now, the more I learn about it, the more things seem to slot into place, and it all makes sense.

That sums up how I feel completely!

My name is Cara, I'm new to returning to Sydney. Lived here in 2008 but never really settled. Husband and I have moved back due to work, and are living in "the nicer part" of Auburn.

I began walking the Pagan path since 2000 and have only just found my home within Druidry. My path has taken me down a few roads, and since moving to Auburn it's really clicked that the Australian Druid path is where I'm home now.

I'm originally from Geelong, Victoria, south-west of Melbourne, famous for Ford cars and our AFL team. That's about it lol For about 6 years I referred to myself as an 'Ocean Witch' as everything I did was down at one particular beach. It was the first place I went to when I get my licence and could practice away from home, and the energies there are so welcoming. The waves are also very cheeky there! They like to splash your bum when you're not paying attention

Loved fire in my teens, water in my early twenties so it's no wonder I'm so drawn to Earth now living in inner-west Sydney away from the water! I also feel that learning to connect with the Earth has been an easier transition in Sydney than it was in Geelong. So many things are making sense for me now, and my connection has never been stronger. It's quite lovely!

I'm working in the city so hopefully I'll be able to make the Druids in the Pub meet ups!

hi everyone.
all this time on obod and i never knew this place existed til today. what a discovery.
i've been druidic all of my adult life and a member of obod since 2007.
i live in a beautiful part of Victoria known as Gippsland. its rich in dairy, beef, sheep, vegetable, fish producing region. Am no more than 1/2 hr from the mountains or the sea.
I grow as much of my own eggs, fruit, herbs and veg as possible and source my meat from friends.
past family members have had experiences as seers, herbalists and druids so i guess its no so surprising that i too have followed down that path. I have a deep love of trees, animals, mythology, druidism and herbalism and will graduate this year as a qualified herbalist.
So i look forward to getting to know everyone here (possibly some other druids in this area) and some great banter in this forum.
From under the walnut tree
kytty

Hi everyone,

I live in Sydney (inner west). I recently moved from the Blue Mountains, and still head back there as often as possible. I am Brand new to Druidry, although, I believe I am also old in it. I am looking to start studying now and would love any advise on good courses. I found the OBOD course on line and if everyone can give me their thoughts on it, it would be massively appreciated.

About me... I love nature, always have, I love clouds, storms (although they often give me a strong sense of foreboding), I write, paint, sculpt, draw. I am a member of the rural fire brigade, and love being away from the city and in the bush, I Really love the ocean.

I just returned from visiting England and France and felt a deep connection with some of the places I visited there, and now want to find that same connection here.

I would love to hear from anyone who is willing to talk about Druidry and share information.

regards
Nigel

Merry meet!

I am Azvanna. I live in Bundaberg, Queensland.

I came to this site because I'd like to get ideas on how to practise Druidry in Australia. We have such a different ecology to the Northern Hemisphere and even though many of us have heritage from England, many of us don't. Our common stories can be quite different to those in the UK. So, symbolism with overseas origins doesn't always bring with it the full weight of meaning than if it were symbols more relevant to our own social and ecological culture.

Looking forward to learning with you all.

Hi all... seems this site is rather quiet, but at this stage I prefer to stay anonymous, so I hope people pop in occasionally.

I live in Sydney and actually have a somewhat similar story to Feathers -- natural pull to the druid class in World of Warcraft led me to read about real druidry and before I knew I'd spent hours on druidry.org and their forums ... I'm not sure I'm at a stage whether I want to commit to the course, but I am very interested in learning more. I've always had an affinity to nature and have strong environmentalist leanings. I was brought up in a very religious home but am no longer a believer in that faith... I have never thought of myself as spiritual in the usual sense, as I don't believe in the supernatural but I do believe that we can connect to the world and the universe more strongly than is standard. I love that there's such a broad spectrum of beliefs within druidry -- I like to think I could have been comfortable with it at any of the stages of my journey. I'm particularly interested in how druidry might respectfully learn from Indigenous culture and lore to adapt to the Australian environment. I am also a creative person and am just amazed to suddenly stumble across a movement that could encompass so much of my world view.