On the relevance of the eight festivals to modern Druids

--- In RDNAtalk@yahoogroups.com, "Mec" wrote:

> > Sigh, is it a Mid-vocation crisis I'm having here?

> > We can read OODLES about the 8 festivals, nifty customs and cool tips for making them come together. Rather few sites really explore WHY we show up every 45 days to be interested in odd things like farming, raising cattle and blacksmithing. (cool as they are) Why does a modern Druid need to know this?

> > Every religion has its special days, and generally does them every year, depending on solar or lunar calendar, around the same time.

> > Are the 8 festivals of druids/pagans/wiccans a bit stilted and divorced from the actual natural cycles, and more an imposition of regularity on a fluid and unpredictable schedule?

> > I'm been having some thoughts on whether with full sincerity I can celebrate the husbandry/agriculture festival in which I neither raise livestock nor touch a spade, and for which I do not eat much local produce. A bit out of touch, perhaps not the only one.

> > What I feel left with is a shell of a holiday structure that while symbolic and pretty is hollowed out by non-participation in the reason they are celebrating.

> > Yes, I probably should grow a garden, eat local, and adopt a farm.

> > -Mike

> Re: What do you think about seasonal festivals?

Here is what I answered to Mike, though mine was not the only answer.

Dear Mike,

please don't 'should' yourself. Whether you do any of those earthy things or not is beside the point. Like it or not, we are all a part of Nature.

Mihalyi Cziksentmihalyi, in his book Flow and its sequel, examines the neurological underpinnings of not only the experience of happiness, but the amount of instinctive behavior we cannot avoid. Much like manufacturing our own vitamin D by absorbing sunlight, accepting our unavoidable links to Nature simply is common sense and to be encouraged.

And to quote the two Tenets-- Nature is Good.

Thus it follows that the eight festivals, whether we engage in actual agriculture or not, continue to have their effects upon us as we all live upon the planet and in this space/time that cycles through its seasonal changes. I have, for the past few years, tried to enumerate the relevance of the eight festivals as they manifest to me and in the life I observe globally as well. It is there to be scrolled through at my druid blog, Healing Lines.

http://helgaleena.mylivepage.com

I do post about other things too, but the passage of time inevitably brings on another season for me to experience and record in my tremendously personally biased fashion.

helgaleena

White Rabbit Grove

old school RDNA

PS: if you upload a photo of yourself at the website pictured, the rich people will donate $50 to USA schools, maybe more.  Since the one percent have firm control of the government and want to cut all services to the 99 percent, this is likely prudent of us.