Dafydd's Blog
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My sword (the one standing up in front), our symbol of protection of the house.

If you love reading a spooky or freaky story, then read on... but what I'm going to write is not a story. This is what really did happen.

Let me start with the beginning: sometime last week.
During that whole week, I woke up in a half-waking state in the middle of the night every now and then. One of those times that I woke up, I did so with the thought in my mind that in our living room, someone (an unnamed friend) was sleeping, an invited guest staying over and lodging in our appartment, sleeping on the couch. The knowledge of this visitor, whom I felt I knew, was not disturbing, it was rather an acknowledgement of the mind that we have a friend over. Nobody was staying over forreal, at least not in the flesh, but it seemed to me that it was, that night.

During this same week, I also woke up with the thought that Weasel, my father's dog, was sleeping right next to our bed, and somehow that made me feel really safe. I remember clearly that at one point, I moved my hand next to the bed to the ground, checking if he was still there so I could pet him, but couldn't find him - as he was not really there - and fell back asleep.

Funny about this latter part, though, is that we had the dog sleep over in our appartment only once, and that was for about a week, about a month ago. During all that time, the dog never entered our bedroom. We didn't ask him to come in there, but we didn't forbid him either. He just didn't. He would follow us around everywhere in the appartment, but if we went in the bedroom he stopped at the door and just looked at us, waiting for us to come back. So during the night, he always slept in the living room, and not once did he sleep next to the bed in the way I thought he was last week.

Another curious note was the weekend before that, when I was working on the computer, it always seemed to me that in the corner of my right eye, I saw the dog laying there in the exact same spot he would sleep when he was over here. When I looked, there was nothing there, but the corner of my eye kept tricking me into looking dozens of times even though I knew perfectly nothing and nobody was there. And this was not in a half-sleeping state, this was in broad daylight.

At first I thought it might have been the spirit of my previous dog Snoopy, travelling to come and spend some time with me, protecting me, and the thought made me feel well. I loved that dog like a brother, and he was one of the best friends I ever had. So the thought of that dog visiting me, was certainly a pleasant one, and his visits would be welcome too. Whether it was Weasel, Snoopy or another dog or spirit, the presence felt comforting and safe, and may have some relations with what happened next.

After last week, I didn't have such experiences any more. If there was still such a spirit visiting us, I was unaware of it, as was Jenni. Until yesterday.

Yesterday morning, I got up for work, ate something, prepared myself to leave, and it was a morning like any other - or so I thought. I went into the bedroom to give Jenni a kiss before leaving to work, unlocked the door, took off the key, locked it again behind me and off I went. Jenni was still half asleep when I kissed her, and didn't say anything in particular, but around noon she messaged my phone, and I found out what had happened.

During that night, the night from July 19 to 20 that is, we had the fan blowing at us at the end of the bed (where our feet are) because the temperatures were so hot and it was over 30?C in the house. What happened next, I did not experience myself as I slept right through it, but Jenni experienced every bit of it.

She was in a half-awake state, when she suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs. Unusual, considering that we live on the highest floor of the house and nobody has any bussiness walking up the stairs that high aside from ourselves or visitors we invite, and the appartment right below us is currently not occupied by anyone, so it could not have been anyone coming home there either, and the appartment below that is the ground floor, those people wouldn't even need to use any stairs. Yet, there were footsteps coming right up.

The next thing Jenni heard, was the lock of the door. Not being tampered with like a robber would do trying to break into a house, but simply unlocking it as if someone would come in with a key. Jenni, in a half-awake state, began to realize something was absolutely not right, and was considering waking me up. She heard the door open, close again, and locking again. She now wanted to wake me up and tell me there was a robber in the house, but then her intuition stopped her...

The next thing she knew, was that the entity that had entered the house, was standing in our bedroom, facing us. Her intuition told her not to move, not to do anything, so that the entity standing there would think it was unseen, and felt that if she made any sign whatsoever, it would do harm. She dared not move, and the entity still stood there, right next to the fan.

The fan, however, suddenly began to blaze icy cold wind, which it would normally never do, and she started to feel cold while it was never cold in the room. The entity still stood there, and stared at us. Just staring. All she could make out was that it was something of a human-shaped vague mass of energy standing there, middle-sized, not skinny, and apparently male as the features seemed to indicate a beard.

She freaked out, but dared not move, when she knew the entity kept standing there, staring, and then suddenly... it vanished! It did not go back out the door as it had entered, it just vanished and was gone.

Whatever or whomever the entity was, it certainly did not feel positive for her, and was no less intruding than a robber in the flesh would have been.

Sometime later that night, and this I vividly do remember although I never woke up and did all the following in a full dreamstate, I jumped up, and went to the fan. It was on setting 3, and somehow in my dream I had to turn it down to setting 1, and remove some object(s) that were linked to it (some filters of water that made the blowing air colder? Although our fan has no such thing). I did change the setting to one, not only in my dream but also in reality, as it was still on setting 1 in the morning, and I could perfectly remember doing that (it's not unusual for me to almost perfectly remember in the morning still, what I did when sleepwalking). I looked for those non-existant objects too I thought I had to remove, but clearly couldn't find them as they weren't there obviously, and went to lie down again whereafter I continued sleeping as normal. But Jenni remembered also that in the morning. But why did I turn down the fan just that night?

In the morning when I got up for work, unaware yet of the "uninvited visit" that had taken place during the night, and the key was still on the door, which was still locked, and nothing was out of place that I noticed. But when I heard from Jenni what had happened, I did somewhat freak out, because it felt to me as an intrusion no less than if it were a robber who had broken into our house. I told my coworker about it at work, and she looked up some information on the internet.

Apparently one doesn't need to fear such spirits, even if they are negative ones, because they can't do you real harm. However, if you do fear them, they love it because they draw from it. They should not even be given attention, because that's exactly what they want. If they have a message or they ask for help, refuse it, because if you want a message you'll ask for it, and they can do without your help too. They are responsible for their own life, if "life" is the right word for their existence, and they chose for it. They have to manage on their own.

Don't be afraid, they say. Easier said than done. The scare having not yet left me fully, I decided to call Hans and tell him the story. He took it also very seriously, and explained that feeling suddenly ice cold air or temperature is a clear indication of such a presence nearby, as he had experienced a similar thing. He told me he'd work something out to create some protection in the house, and come over by the evening.

And so I came home, told Jenni we should eat soon because Hans was coming over, she started on dishes... that went well, until there was suddenly no warm water in the kitchen any more! The boiler kept going at it as normal, so it should have been heating up the water, except that it didn't, apparently. Strange.

Dishes done, she went on to bake the fries. The grease was supposed to heat up, except that half an hour later, it was still as cold as before. That thing had broken down somehow too! Two things on the same day. Hmmm.

Ok, so now I was tired of these apparent malfunctions, and my stomach was seriously protesting too. I decided to message my father, who responded he'd come over in 15 minutes. I asked him to take Weasel, his dog, with him, and told him I'd explain why. So he did.

When the dog came in, nothing was out of the ordinary, and he ran around the place as normal. So my father went into the kitchen to check what was not working, while me and Jenni tried to convince the dog to follow us into the bedroom. The dog would not be convinced, he refused to follow us in there. We didn't want to force him in there, we wanted him to come in there on his own. But there was no way we were going to get him into that bedroom!

So we asked my father to walk into the bedroom, and ask the dog to follow. The dog followed, but not beyond the door of the bedroom. Eventually after alot of trying, my father got the dog to enter the bedroom after all, but the dog did so with his legs wide spread and very carefully at it. Once in there, though, the dog behaved normal again.

So then Hans came over, and he had his preparations with him, and a bit later so did Nancy. I had also prepared something, and had taken my sword off the wall.

The sword, which I have baptized according to the old tradition taught to me by Myrrdin (Jean-Claude) several years ago, and gave it a Secret Name, is one of the most energetic objects I own, aside from my Druid staff which I obviously use in ceremonies. The sword, however, had not been used in ceremony or ritual before, aside from its baptism/blessing/naming which I did in the face of the Full Moon several years ago. When I took the sword, I could feel the pulse of energy of the blade flowing through my hand, and I knew it had not waned in strength yet.

So at last, we went to the bedroom, and right at the spot where the entity had stood - and where we could all still feel the negative energy residue which was pretty much the only evidence we had that this was not just a dream, Hans set up the antique Dragon Candle Holder, and put in it a white candle in which he had carved several symbols vertically from top to bottom. Next to this candle we put our ritual chalice with some water in it.

While Hans was preparing the incense, which we had place in front of the candle and chalice, I took my sword, let the point of it rest on the floor facing the entrance of the bedroom, and spoke the following Latin:

MAGICUS CIRCULUS CONTRA CHAOS (magic circle against chaos)
MAGICUS CIRCULUS CONTRA MALUS (magic circle against evil)
IGNIFER MURUS (Wall of Fire)
GLACIES MURUS (Wall of Ice)
MURUS FERRARIUS (Wall of Iron)
MURUS LAPIDEUS (Wall of Stone)
MURUS ADIGO (Wall of Force)
MAGICUS CIRCULUS PRO PROBUS (magic circle for good)

When that part was done, Hans had everything ready and set up. He then spoke some sentences in Latin too, which was too much to remember so it will not be written here. Once it was spoken out loud, he gave a kiss to the antique bronze figure of Bel and held it there, and then put the paper he read from in the flame of the candle, until the paper was almost all but burned away, as was the text on it, and he threw it in the water of the chalice. Then he threw out the remains with the water in the toilet, and flushed it away. Now all there was left to do, was for the candle to burn away all the symbols carved in it.

Shortly thereafter they went home, it was past 9.30pm now, and it was for us to wait until the candle was burned to the end. Not only that, but also guard the flame from going out by "wind". So we took no chances and closed the bathroom door, so there could be no wind in the house, despite the fact that temperatures were hot again and we really could have used the air. But we didn't want to take any chances, the flame was in no way to go out until the candle had burned to the end and all the symbols were gone.

If the flame had gone out by itself now, it would have been a bad sign, and the entity would still be in the house, but the flame burned steadily, and that was a good thing. Nancy also said she didn't think the entity was still in the house, just some residue of negative energy from its former presence, and that it might have been a one-time visit. I hope she is right. It might be the spirit of someone who had once lived in this house, or once had a quarrel with someone who had lived in this house. The features as Jenni described them, give two options of people we can think of, but of whom we don't know if they still live or not right now. I will not name them, out of respect, but if one of them took his life that night, he might have come to visit before he travelled on to the Otherworld, and he could have known where we lived.

Whomever it was, we didn't want uninvited and intruding guests like that again, and so we kept the candle burning. By midnight, however, the candle was still burning, and nowhere near finished yet, so we decided to watch a movie on DVD while we waited, and we watched the "Tales of the Neverending Story". It is a DVD containing several movies of each about 1.5 hours, and we hadn't seen it yet. So 1.5 hours later, the candle was still burning, and only maybe about halfway. So time for another movie. And another.

In the end it was almost 5am, and even then the candle had not completely reached the bottom yet. But we were both too tired to watch yet another movie, so we went to bed and stayed by the candle. Daylight was slowly growing outside again already, and we could hear the birds singing in the nearby park. The Birds of Rhiannon I call them, after an experience where I heard them singing in the park while walking outside at 4am when it was still totally dark, and it was truly an Otherworldly experience, and a beautiful one at that, a few months ago.

The sword, we had put next to the bed on the ground, the hilt nearby, the point facing the entrance of the room. Before doing so, I had opened the window and showed the blade to the sky, while chanting and calling upon Odin, to charge the sword's blade with some extra energy from Odin himself. The neighbours probably thought I was going to sacrifice humans.

While I expected I'd feel scared when going to sleep and find every sound I heard to be suspicious, I felt no such thing. Maybe it helped that I was extremely tired, but I felt comfortable, I felt safe and good, knowing that the sword was pointing at the entrance, the paper with the Latin protection spell under my pillow, the white tiger in the picture that hangs on the wall in the bedroom watching over us as I had asked it to do earlier that evening (it is a picture I took myself several years, of a white tiger in the zoo of Liberec, Czech Republic, and I felt so connected to it I almost could not leave or stop looking at them), and watching the flame of the candle, listening to the birds, I fell asleep. I woke up again at the perfect timing to blow out the candle, and so I did, whereafter I went back to sleep.

I think the candle has been burning for 8 hours or more, but all our precautions did their job, I would think. The slower the symbols burned away, the more profoundly they did so. There was no visitor in the house this night, and if there was, I didn't notice it and it probably would have had a hard time waking us up, tired as we were! Jenni is still asleep as I write this now!

I hope I may say here that this is a story ended well, and that we have seen the last of these unwanted visitors. But surely it was an experience that made us stronger, from which we learned. I doubt that next time such a thing would happen, they will less likely catch us off guard! Either way, the sword will be next to the bed each night from now on, and curiously enough it is something I've always wanted to do. But if it were up to me, I'd carry my sword with my everywhere I go, it's just so unfortunate that I would likely be arrested for it

The New Order of Druids is a fact! The constitution is signed, and now needs to be put in at the official instances. That means we can get officially started!

A brief overview of how everything went…
It took place in the restaurant of “Celtic Ireland” in Antwerp, with the present people being the four founders, as well as Torc from the Netherlands and Karayana from the United Kingdom, and Ambiorix, one of our well trusted members from Antwerp.

Around 6pm the press arrived, such as ATV and various newspapers. After a few interviews, David Dom (Phoenix) held a speech, shortly explaining the Celtic history of Belgium, as well as about the New Order of Druids, and our future plans. Following, Karayana said a few words about the future plans to start a grove in England. Then Torc has done the “connection” and asked the Gods for their blessing. Then it was time to sign the constitution, followed by a few more interviews and photo sessions, and of course a glass of champagne!

You may have noticed that all this did not escape the attention of the local press. We were mentioned in the news of ATV (Antwerp Television) on sunday, May 28. On Monday, May 29, two live radio interviews took place: one on Radio 2 at 6.45am, and one on Radio 1 around 11.05am. Also this monday, we had an article in several newspapers.

Click on the images for a larger version.

This is the TV broadcast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaifoH0khdw

This is the interview of Radio Antwerpen 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NldXPYvxfZ8

This is the interview of Radio 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiG6YsTrwA

Over the past few weeks, ever since I performed the Beltane ceremony three times at the Failte Celtic Festival on April 30, 2006, I have had recurring dreams about my Druid robes. Never two dreams were the same, but the same essence returned in each of them: I was searching for my robes, couldn?t find them, and felt naked without them. These dreams came to me on an almost daily basis for weeks, and often were twinned with talking in my sleep, asking where the robes are.

The height point came on the night after the visit to Canterbury on Saturday May 13, where I got up in the middle of the night and started looking for my robes. I even turned the big light of the bedroom on, and started searching again. I do remember all this vividly, and also that Jenni woke up and asked me what I was looking for. What I do not remember, but she does, is that my answer was ?robes?.

Why do I look for my robes? Why are they missing? Why do I feel naked?
To answer this, I had to answer the question about what relation I have toward my robes.

Going back a few weeks, I wore my new white Druid robe for the first time at the Elf Fantasy Fair on April 22 and 23, two full days in a row. I participated in Torc?s ceremony on both days while wearing those robes. The weekend after, on the Failte Celtic Festival on April 30, I performed my first big ceremony, also wearing those Druid robes the entire day.

Having been wearing those robes quite a lot in only a very short time, has made me go through some kind of ?transformation? which has enabled me to ?find my place? and take up my role as Druid. A new phase has begun, and this transformation was the end of the previous phase and the beginning of the new one. Wearing the robes has become ?natural? to me, as in a part of myself, and increased my energy. If I were to do a ceremony again, and I?d have to do it without my robes, I would most certainly feel ?naked? even if I wore 10 tons of other clothes!

There is a sceptical part of me, the part of me that doesn?t really believe anything. It was always there, and for the many years where I was an atheist (from about the age of 13 or 14, until around the year 2001) it dominated the way I was thinking and forming opinions. It was when I started learning from Myrrdin (Jean-Claude) that this part of me started to shift into balance.

The first God I prayed to in about ten years, was Odin. It was the first god to respond. Coming from being an atheist, I found signs and proof that I could not mistake or deny. It was there in front of me, and at that time it was quite a transformation for me. And today, I still pray to Odin. Yet, Odin is a Norse god, not a Celtic one?

Since I started on the Druid path and began to study Celtic history, I had in my mind three main ?enemies of the Celts?. Those were the Christians, Romans and Germanic tribes. I only looked at these three counterparts from the eyes of the defeated Celt, not from the other side.

My first confrontation was with Christianity. It was a time where I had to cope with a Christian surrounding, and I was reading the ?Mists of Avalon? by Marion Zimmer Bradley. By the time I finished this book, I received a series of insights that allowed me to give Christianity a place, for myself. Without prejudgement, without hatred. It came into balance for me.

The second confrontation was with the Romans. Still believing them to be the cause of all evil, I began to listen to what Hans had to say about them. And I began to see the Roman culture from another light. They too are part of the balance, and play their role in it. It doesn?t matter so much what Hans told me about Romans, it is about how I perceived it. I began to discover a newfound respect for Roman culture, and gave it a place, for myself. It came into balance for me.

Now that left only one ?counterpart? to cope with: the Germanic culture. Long have I felt hate for that ancient culture, because of what they once did to the Celts. But it seems that it?s their turn now?

When I was at the Elf Fantasy Fair, I met a most interesting man named John, or otherwise Aswulf. He is a follower of the Asatru (Germanic/Norse) traditions, and I listened carefully to what he had to say. During the Pagan Council at which both he and I took part, he said many things. It doesn?t matter so much what Aswulf said about Asatru, it is how about I perceived it. Also when I spoke to Aswulf personally, I was puzzled by this unexpected pull toward everything he told me, toward this tradition, this culture, this spirituality.

And I have been praying to Odin for about five years now. And it is Odin who answers. At the Elf Fantasy Fair, I toasted a horn of mead in Odin?s name for the first time. When I did and wanted to drink from it, the mead almost splashed in my face. Someone said (jokingly) to that: ?beware what you toast on?. But I realized that this was not ?coincidence?. This was a sign.

It would appear that the one meaning of my dreams about those robes, is being balanced by a second meaning: the one of transformation and re-initiation, redefining my identity into a new one. The discovery of my link and connection to the Germanic and Norse traditions seems to be the reason for that.

?Coincidentally?, my father gave me a video tape the other day with a documentary from National Geographic that he had recorded for me, about Vikings.

Whether I?m up to like it or not, Germanic culture is part of my ancestry. The land where I live has Germanic roots, and so does my bloodline ancestry. It is part of me. Until now, I have repressed these part of my roots, believing them to be evil, but it is time I accept them. They are part of me and I can?t keep repressing it.

I have also just realized that for a few months, one of the forums on NOD was still unmoderated. Nobody in the Council would really step up to moderate it initially. It is the ?Druidism & Asatru? forum. Why? I began to realize it was waiting; for me. I?m the one who is meant to moderate this, it only makes sense nobody would step up because it was not meant for them, it was meant for me. It was waiting for me.

So I have decided I shall also embrace my Germanic roots and its traditions. This will not divert me from the Druid path, for my resolution onto that is now stronger than ever, and as the other meaning of the dream also said, I am coming into the role that awaited me. I will, however, add the Germanic part as a part of myself. As a new addition.

The Germanic traditions are my past.
The Celtic traditions are my future.

And in the present, I shall incorporate both.

Here is the full report of the Failte Celtic Festival!

For those who don't know what this festival was about... Failte was the name of a Celtic festival organized by a school in Belgium. Torc had pointed it out to me, whereafter I contacted them to ask if we could have an info table at their festival too, to promote the NOD (a Celtic event without any Druids wouldn't be complete now would it ) and also perform a ceremony for the public.

An agreement was made, and on Sunday we could use a tent to have our info table at, even use a TV+DVD to show a documentary of the Celts, and in return we would perform a ceremony at three different times during the day. So I chose to do a Beltane ceremony, as it was the day before Beltane Day and felt it would be the most appropriate thing to do.

We arrived there around 10am, were told where we could find our tent (which was a nice and large one too! and started to set everything up. Now I don't have pictures of the tent and of what all we had on display yet (those will probably still follow later), but this is what we had on display:

- Brochures that people could take
- Booklets with general information about NOD
- Booklets with general Celtic/Druid information, such as the Ogham, tree calendar, Celtic symbols, ...
- Two dragon candles
- An incense set that we received as a wedding gift last year from nighthawk
- A piece of wood on which I had drawn the Ogham circles
- A piece of wood on which I had written "NEW ORDER OF DRUIDS"
- A piece of wood with two candles in it
- Our Celtic antique artefacts in display cases (a La Tene Celtic warrior knife and axe, Celtic coins from Gaul and Britain, rings and other small objects)
- Our mead horn
- A Celtic card set (that Ambiorix Bradan had brought with him)
- Our Bodhran
- A large Celtic Cross (which I actually bought there at the festival!
- My newest book "The Celtic Chronicles" (which is about to be released - more info coming soon)

I think that is more or less everything.

We went there with 10 people: me, Willow Mist, ROMA, Messalina, her two children, Ambiorix (an NOD member of the Nervii Nemeton mother grove here in Belgium), my father (who filmed the entire event), ROMA's mother and another friend.

Soon after we arrived, we met with Dububrannos for the first time, also an NOD member who lives on the other side of Belgium, and was there to tell Bardic stories to the people. It was great to meet him in person, and I look forward to work together with him again in the future! We gladly shared our info tent with him as he didn't really have a place or tent of his own.

Reportedly over 2000 people visited the festival that day, and alot of things were going on: Irish dance, music, Celtic sports (hurling, Highland games, ...), re-enactors, lessons on how to wear the Highland kilt, and so much more!

And that brings me to our part in the activities: the Beltane Ceremony!

So we were asked to perform a ceremony, and as I explained earlier, I chose to do a Beltane ceremony. It was the first time I would lead a ceremony on my own, and I wanted to do it right.

A few weeks in advance, I had written out the entire ceremony from scratch. On Saturday afternoon, we gathered in a nearby park to rehearse the ceremony, which is a very important step in the finalising of a ceremony. There are always these practical parts that turn out not to work very well and some changes need to be made then. Having rehearsed the ceremony twice that day, we were ready for Sunday!

[b]Willow Mist (left) and Messalina (right) at the info tent.[/b]


[b]ROMA (left), Messalina and Phoenix, just prior to the ceremony.[/b]

We had taken 16 stones with us (four large one, one for each direction, and 12 small ones to fill up the gaps) and we laid them out in a circle on the grass. We then put the torches in the ground, got a table for the altar and set it up.

I had received a Welsh translation of a gods and goddesses blessing from Eagle Owl, who obtained it for me from someone she knows who speaks Welsh, just prior to us leaving for the festival. There was no time to rehearse the pronunciation any more, but I still wanted to put it to some use. So I used it to bless the altar with it.

Then I activated the circle. This is not to be confused with the opening of the circle at the beginning of a ceremony. I chose to activate the circle, because the stones would remain in place all afternoon, and the Beltane Ceremony would be performed in it three times.
Now we still needed one thing on our side: the weather. Weather forecasts had predicted an entire day of rain on Sunday, which would have been unfortunate. I had checked weather.com since Friday evening, and each time it said that it was dry now, but that it would rain in the next hour. But it never did. I checked saturday morning, noon, early evening and late evening... it kept saying the same, and no rain came. Sunday morning was the same.

But on our way to the festival in the morning, it was raining. When we arrived there, it had stopped raining again, but it was still very cloudy and anything could still happen. And that's when the strange thing happened.

Only minutes before the ceremony was about to begin, the blue sky began to clear open, and the sun came out to warm us up. And it stayed that way, for the entire ceremony. After the first ceremony, it suddenly began to rain again and there was a stronger wind, but by the time we were about to begin the second ceremony, the sun had returned... It didn't rain again that day, although the sun didn't shine all the time, but at the third ceremony the sky was nice and clear once again! It would seem the Gods were with us.

I will now share some more pictures of the ceremony, as they will speak more than a thousand words.

[b]ROMA, Messalina and Phoenix when the ceremony is about to begin.[/b]


[b]Gregory (Messalina's son) blowed the horn to announce the ceremony.[/b]


[b]The Beltane Ceremony is about to start.[/b]


[b]Phoenix opens the ceremony.[/b]


[b]Willow Mist during the Beltane Ceremony[/b]


[b]Phoenix greets the Four Directions.[/b]


[b]The Confrontation between the Winter King (ROMA) and the May Queen (Messalina)[/b]


[b]The Winter King offers the Chalice to the May Queen[/b]

The ceremony was filled with symbols of Beltane. I was the ceremony leader, opening and closing the circle. Messalina was the Herald, welcoming and thanking the people for attending. Willow Mist was the very much needed helping hand, holding the ceremony book or booklets when necessary.

ROMA performed the role of Winter King, and later on as May King, while Messalina performed the role of May Queen or Flower Queen, for which her green dress was more than fitting! The items used were the sword and the chalice, and those among you familiar with the fertility symbols of Beltane will no doubt understand what they mean but it was very much a celebration of the rebirth of the land.

And that is why another important part of the ceremony was the crowning of the May King and May Queen, with a crown of green leaves.

[b]Phoenix crowns ROMA to May King.[/b]


[b]Phoenix crowns Messalina to May Queen.[/b]


[b]Also our friend Dububrannos attended the ceremony.[/b]

Another important aspect of the Beltane ceremony, or any Celtic Fire Festival (such as Samhain), were the two bonfires. Now we couldn't go about creating two bonfires there due to fire hazard, but we brought two torches with us that we put in the ground. Important was the part where people who wished, could walk between the two fires (the two torches) for protection and purification, whereafter I gave each a blessing and put the Awen symbol with oil on their foreheads. Some people also brought their dog and asked to put a blessing on the animal, for which I was very glad because it shows that mankind and animal are equal.

[b]Phoenix puts a blessing on ROMA.[/b]


[b]Phoenix puts a blessing on Dububrannos.[/b]


[b]Phoenix puts a blessing on a visitor.[/b]


[b]Phoenix puts a blessing on Yeti (ROMA's mother)[/b]


[b]Phoenix puts a blessing on Lucky, another friend who had come with us[/b]


[b]Phoenix puts a blessing on Laura (Messalina's daughter)[/b]
And of course, the ceremony couldn't be complete without the Awen Chant...


[b]Chanting the Awen[/b]

The ceremonies were a success, certainly for us for whom this was a great practice, although there weren't always many onlookers, but that was probably because it wasn't announced very well (a woman came to me asking where it was, just after the last one was finished, and she said she had looked all over for it but couldn't find it) and because somewhere halfway during the second ceremony a performance of Irish dancers suddenly began, instantly attracting the attention of most onlookers unfortunately, although that didn't bother me. The intention is what counts, after all.

The altar remained in place until we finished performing the last ceremony of the day, and at one point a young boy had even gone over to the altar, on which lay my ceremony book, and stood there for quite some time, carefully reading the entire ceremony in it! Some young girls had also come to our info tent to write some of the meanings of certain Celtic symbols that interested them, that was written in one of our booklets. We had several nice encounters with people there, and who knows how many brochures were taken along!

It was a day as succesfull as it was tiring (we had no chairs so we could not sit down for the entire day!) and by the evening, we drove back to Antwerp where we ate at the "Celtic Ireland" restaurant, and in the end were all so tired we just wanted to sleep. But I couldn't yet, because at 11pm I had yet an online Beltane ceremony to perform in the chatroom! Four ceremonies in a day is quite a bit!

First of all, the Elf Fantasy Fair is a major annual event taking place in The Netherlands. For me and Willow Mist, it was the first time we would attend it, but for Torc it wasn't the first time.

Torc was so kind to invite us to stay over at his place, so we could go together to the EFF (short for Elf Fantasy Fair) as it would be a bit far to travel back and forth on one day both Saturday and Sunday. When we arrived on Friday evening, Torc announced a surprise to me: I would not only perform a role in the Opening and Closing Ritual of EFF on Sunday, but also on Saturday because they were one person short!

At first I was wondering if that was such a good idea. If I performed the Sunday one, I would be able to see how the Saturday one went first. But participating in the ritual on both Saturday and Sunday went perfectly well, and looking back at it afterwards, I'm glad I had the opportunity to participate in both!

On Saturday, I was still a bit nervous, trying to do everything right and not forget anything, but on Sunday I felt far more confident in my role, and what's more, it felt very natural to do it too.

The opening rite took place in the morning, around 11, and the evening one around 6. I was the Druid of the West, and sprinkled water from a bowl on the ground and circle, while walking around the circle, followed by doing the same in front of everyone, and allow them to touch the water and put it on their forehead if they wished so. Then I sprinkled more on the ground, making a spiral to the center of the circle.

It was the first time for me also, that I chanted the Awen with other people. While at first it felt a bit unusual because I was unfamiliar with it, it soon felt natural as well. According to Willow Mist, my voice was the lowest of everyone, and was quite steady. I may have some primitive singing talents after all

Basically, the second time I performed the ceremony (on Sunday that is) it felt entirely natural for me. I was not the least bit nervous, and I did it as if I would have done it a dozen times before. Maybe that's also because now I knew perfectly without a doubt what I was supposed to do, but what was also important to me that the people that I performed the ceremony together with, were not complete strangers any more. On saturday, the only two people I knew in the ceremony were Torc and Ivy (Torc's wife), and the others were at that time strangers to me, as I had not seen them ever before.

These people belong to Torc's Druid group known as the "Order of the Aspen". Most of those people stayed for the entire day, and some of them also returned on Sunday. Having spoken with them a bit, made it easier to perform a ceremony together with them. They were all kind people, I must add, and I'm glad to have had a chance to meet them.

One of the most interesting people I met there, though, was called John, a man who follows the Asatru tradition (the Germanic/Nordic tradition with gods such as Odin and Thor). I really enjoyed talking with him, and I feel he has many interesting things to say to people. One thing that probably connects us (although I don't remember telling him that) is that one of the main gods I pray to is also Odin. Yes, it may sound strange for a follower of the Druid path, and it is a leftover from my first teacher Myrrdin who would turn to Odin as well. At that time, I was an atheist, and slowly found my way to the Gods, and Odin was the first one who answered me, which is probably why. John was also a member of the "Pagan Council" I took part in.

But before I go into detail about the Pagan Council, let me draw a more detailed description of the Fair itself!

In the morning, we took the metro to the train station, and then the train. In the train the first traces of the Fair were already becoming visible, and when we stepped out of the train, it seemed that the Fair already had begun there and then. We went outside the station, where busses were waiting to transport people to the EFF.

We saw people dressed up in all kind of characters or creatures. What we saw in the bus was only a beginning. The Fair was full of them... knights, kings, queen, princesses, faeries, elves, angels, devils, dragons, monks, witches, wizards, sorcerers, Vikings, as well as figures such as from Lord of the Rings, their typical elves, Men of the South, even a knight from Gondor in full armour, and of course... there was us, Druids It was not uncommon there to get compliments by strangers on your clothing, or random people wanting to take a picture of you, and I also got compliments on my new staff.

The Fair took place on the domain of a castle. It was a large and beautiful castle, with a large tract of land around it, with much nature. The Fair was spread over the domain, and it took about an hour or so, or even longer, to walk through it all. Activities went on all over the place, music performances of several bands, re-enactments, and so on. There were tons of shops selling all kinds of great stuff, alot of fantasy material and clothing of course, but alot more than that... They had great clothing of all kinds (Torc bought a beautiful green cape, and I wanted to buy one on Sunday too but they were sold out on that), swords, bows & arrows, drinking horns and stands, mead (!!!, bags, stone figures, books, and everything else you can remotely think of!

On Saturday, the weather was cold however. We estimate it was about 12?C which is pretty cold to stand there in Druid robes rather than in a warm jacket. Sunday, on the other hand, the sun finally appeared warming us all up to a nice temperature, only in the evening it started to rain a little bit.

The cold weather on Saturday did not work in our favour for the Pagan Council. We were with about 7 people if I remember correctly, and we were all shakingly freezing up there. It took place in a tent, but people that sat there listening to us were no less cold, which caused several people to leave halfway because it was getting too cold to sit down that long without moving.

At the Pagan Council, Torc was the discussion leader. I represented Druidry and NOD / Grove of Dana College, Ivy represented Druidry and The Druid Network / Order of the Aspen, John represented Asatru, a guy named Merlin represented Wicca, and two women represented Reclaiming (if you don't know what that is, look it up, it's still a new concept but you'll find info about it on the net). Due to the cold and the lack of input of the people that were listening, there wasn't much of a debate getting started. It went well nevertheless, but we all hoped to get a bit more out of it.

On Sunday, on the other hand, the weather was perfect: not too cold, and at around 4 (when the council started) it began to rain, which was another reason for people to flee into a tent like ours! This time, the tent was PACKED full, so that there weren't even enough chairs! Surely there must have been over a 100 people in there!

Debate was easy enough (especially between the Reclaiming women and everyone else of the team lol), and on Sunday there was also a woman representing solitary Witchcraft. I introduced myself as being from Belgium ("small country, so only one representative" ) and mentioned that NOD offers courses in our college for free (many people don't know that there are also "free" courses out there, and not just the expensive OBOD ones). The theme on both days was "Paganism and freedom" and among the subjects we discussed around that, was the freedom to celebrate your tradition's holidays on the days you want, rather than be forced to stay home from work on the Christian holidays, the responsibility that comes with freedom of choice, the freedom to adapt your tradition to your own needs. I pointed out here that even if we don't get a day off on a feast day of our tradition, we can still weave its celebration in our lives. I compared this with the people of like 2000 years ago, where they had to continue their daily tasks too, such as tending the field, hunting for food, and still managed to include their festivals into their daily life. I also pointed out that there are as many paths in a tradition as there are people who follow it. There are, of course, common things that everyone within one tradition shares (if you follow Druidry, you're not going to dump your trash in nature or set a forest on fire) but it is also a personal relation ship you have with your tradition, and you have your own path that you set upon within this tradition. A balance between globalisation and individualism is important. Then I also pointed out, when the subject went to education and training, that it is important not to just accept blindly everything that is being told to you. With an example of what we saw happening before (some among us will know what I refer to, but that's not what this is about, and I did not mention names), I explained that it can happen that someone wants to use his or her power to impose his or her views upon their student, rather than letting the student develop him/herself. Questioning everything you are being taught is important, otherwise you will learn but not understand. There were many other things being said, but I don't remember it all right now.

After the council was finished, I was approached by a few people from the audience and talked with them. They were nice people, and took a pamphlet of NOD with them. I hope that maybe I can welcome them in NOD one day too! We also put several pamphlets at the general info tables too, and it seems many of them were taken by people. This doesn't mean there will be an immediate wave of response, these things take time, but slowly the word about NOD gets out there, and maybe in one or two years from now, the results will become extremely clear. I've been doing that before with other organisations, and seen its inescapable effect. One just needs to be patient.

There were also several pictures made, both during the rituals and during both pagan councils, and as soon as they're developped I'll be posting them in this topic!

Sunday evening after the pagan council (which we performed in the rain) we went back to Torc's home, and talked for awhile, until we realized it was getting late, and it turned out we had missed our last train to Belgium. There was no other option than staying another night there (it would seem Torc and Ivy did not want us to leave ) and the next morning we left early (we had to get up at 5.30am) to get home sometime after 10am. At 12, I already had to be at work again so we couldn't leave any later than that. Next time I think I'll just take the entire day off after the Fair, and luckily I had taken off the morning at least because I'd never have been able to get there on time at 9am otherwise!

So what leaves me to do now, is to tell you what we all took home. First of all (and very important) a LARGE drinking horn i intend to use for rites in the future. John (of Asatru) did a small Germanic rite with us on Saturday evening after the closing ritual, in where he filled his horn with mead, we stood in a circle, he spoke a few words to the Gods, and we passed the horn clockwise, drinking from it and saying a blessing. At one point I toasted to Odin, Frigga and Ceridwen, after which I drank from the horn and the mead splashed for a moment. Torc said laughingly "beware who you mention" but I don't think it was coincidence (that doesn't exist anyway ) and it may have been a response from these Gods, that they are still here with me. And I know they are. We continued to do this circling of the horns (at one point with two different horns! until the horns were almost empty, after which John poured the last bit of Mead on the ground, to give thanks and a return to the Earth.

I also got a holder for the horn, so we can put it on the table or the ground or anywhere at all, which is easy for use during rituals, and also a brown leather pouch with Celtic design on it which I can hang on my rope around the waist when wearing my druid robes, making it easy for me to carry things with me as there are no pockets in my robes. We also got a hand-made "Celtic Green Man" figure in stone, two small candle holders that you can put into something (such as a piece of wood, which is exactly what I intend to use it for), and... mead! Oh how great it was to taste mead again as it had been a long time for me! Truly the nectar of the Gods! I actually didn't buy the bottle at the EFF, but straight from Torc who still had a stock of those bottles at home (go figure ) and he added a second bottle of another kind of Mead to it as a gift!

We had little sleep for the entire weekend (maybe 15 hours or so in three nights) and we were dead tired when we arrived home at last, and I really didn't feel like going to work that afternoon although I had to, but it was all very much worth it!

So if you can make it to the Elf Fantasy Fair of next year, I'd say: don't miss out on it! Just do it!

[b]The saturday opening ceremony[/b]




[b]The Pagan Council[/b]