A Druid's Handbook to the Spiritual Power of Plants: Spagyrics in Magical and Sexual Rituals - Jon G. Hughes 2014

Workplace and Sanctuary
The Druidic Workshop

For every practicing Druid, his or her workshop is the focal point of his or her activities, and therefore it becomes a place of immense significance. It is a place for private contemplation and meditation, a storeroom of all things precious, a place of ritual workings, and, most important, it is a practical work space where the practitioner may develop and practice his or her art and science.

As the Druidic practitioner’s skills and capabilities grow, so the workshop grows, until eventually all the equipment, tools, and materials needed are within easy reach.

Many people begin their activities in a much more modest way, using perhaps a corner of a room, a spare bedroom, or an outdoor shed as a work space for some of the simpler techniques employed in the early stages of their learning. But before too long, the need for a dedicated and well-equipped work space becomes apparent. It makes sense that once you are convinced that you need to follow the direction of Druidic practice, the sooner you begin to contemplate where you can establish your own dedicated workshop, the better.

Later we’ll look at the tools and equipment we’ll need to begin the refinement of our complex and incense. As we do this, you will see that there are currently three basic “styles” of practice that we may employ.

Some people use traditional tools and equipment, which attach a degree of authenticity to the work being done. Others choose a scientific approach, using modern tools and laboratory equipment similar to that seen in any other laboratory. Yet others prefer to use very practical, utilitarian tools and equipment borrowed from the kitchen, toolshed, or wherever they may be found in everyday life. If used and maintained properly, all are equally effective, and, if we look at it in a pragmatic sense, they all represent the same idea. The tools used by the ancient Druids—that is, the ones used in today’s traditional school of practice—were the “modern” laboratory equipment of their day, the latest technology available to the priest or priestess at the time. Thus, there is no conflict of principles in utilizing today’s technology just as the ancient Druids were doing in their day.

Similarly, many of the tools used by the ancient Druids were common household implements borrowed and adapted for their use in the workshop, only to be returned to general use once the ritual working was completed.

The best plan may be the one I arrived at during my forty years of practice—a combination of all three styles. If I am undertaking a process that depends on hygienic and sterile conditions, I use modern, sterile laboratory equipment. If the process is one of weighty ritual, I use traditional equipment to add authenticity. If I need something for a single, one-time purpose and it is sitting in the kitchen drawer, I borrow it and return it later.

This utilitarian approach is common in the history of the Druidic tradition. Druidic priests and priestesses were usually members of a large, extended family, often sharing living space with three or four generations of their own kin. In these circumstances, privately owned possessions were a rare thing; most of what was used belonged to the family.

Apart from one’s clothes, the most common piece of privately owned property was a spoon and maybe a knife. In Wales, this gave rise to the tradition of the love spoon, one of the many unique aspects of Welsh cultural history.

The rural, agrarian society of Wales meant that young, single men had abundant leisure time in the long dark winter once the crops were stored and the autumn fruits and berries had been gathered. They used this time to carve decorative spoons that were presented to the young lady of their choice at their betrothal. As the tradition developed, the spoons became more and more elaborate, involving complex techniques of carving and establishing standard details representing love, chastity, and good luck. Small spheres contained in cages in the shaft of the spoon represented the number of children hoped for from the union; linked chains represented the bonding of the couple. Later spoons even included Christian symbolism, changing the equal-sided cross and circle of the pagan earth symbol into the elongated cross and small circle of the early Celtic Christian cross.

Once given to the young lady, this spoon not only sealed their relationship until their marriage but also was often the only private possession of the young girl until she left the family home to live with her husband. Because of the symbolic importance of the spoon, it ceased to be a functional utensil and became the elaborately decorated love spoon known in today’s Welsh culture. There are examples of love spoons in most Welsh museums, some dating back many centuries; on the other hand, there are still commercial manufacturers of love spoons working in Wales today, though the practice of carving one’s own has virtually died out.

Welsh love spoons

Love spoons were, and still can be, a part of the Druidic tradition. Originally, the woods used were selected for the same attributes they bring to wands, staves, and the complexes and incenses—such as healing and protection for the spoons made from the wood of the ash, or wisdom and inspiration for spoons made from the wood of the hazel. A more complete list of the attributes of wood from the trees of the Celtic tradition may be found in part 2, in the section “Tree Attributes.” A fundamental part of the crafting of the love spoon was its “empowerment” by the Druid once it was carved, and many of the original details carved into the spoons were drawn from pagan imagery and the images of natural magic. Nowadays, all of these aspects of the love spoon have disappeared, leaving only an attractive souvenir and keepsake for the visitor to Wales.

In this atmosphere of communal living, it is easy to see that there was not much opportunity for the Druidic priest or priestess to live and work in the isolation that tradition sometimes demanded. The usual response to this problem was to erect a small building to be used exclusively as the workshop. This eventually became the place of consultation for students and patients, the place for the manufacture of ritual tools and for the crafting and storage of the priest’s or priestess’s materials and potions, and the private sanctuary of the priest or priestess for meditation and contemplation—in short, all the functions necessary for the modern-day Druidic workshop.

What, then, are the fundamental requirements for our workshop? First and foremost it must be a place of personal harmony. It is essential that the individual feel totally at ease and secure within his or her workshop environment. It needs to be a place of seclusion, somewhere where disruptions and interruptions are unlikely. Interrupting ritual workings or refinement processes can have disastrous results. Ideally, it will be at least large enough to contain your work table (the working stone), two or three chairs, storage racks, and side tables, and still leave enough room to move around comfortably. It must be well lit and equipped with the basic essential services (water, drainage, and electricity and/or gas).

Security will at some point become important to you. It’s not that the contents of your workshop will contain overly expensive equipment, but it will house many things that will become extremely precious to you. The time and labor you will be investing in some of the compounds and materials stored in your workshop will make them very valuable to you, even in some cases irreplaceable. Make sure you are able to lock both your workshop and some of the cabinets within it, where you may store your most precious items.

Your workshop will need to be well ventilated, and you must be able to maintain a reasonable working temperature within it. Depending on where you live, and the season, this may mean either heating or cooling the interior. Remember that most of the time you are in your workshop you will be sedentary, so some form of environmental control is essential.

If you can find a space that fits all these criteria, the next step is to begin fitting it with the basic furniture and fixtures that you need. If you cannot, you may need to make some compromises.

One of the first things that can be eliminated is the water supply. Much of the work requiring water may be done in any kitchen or bathroom, assuming you know, understand, and adhere to the necessary hygiene procedures. If necessary, modest amounts of water may be carried to the workshop and stored until used. And if you have no water supply, you will not need drainage either. Without water and drainage, you are placing some restrictions on the potential of your workshop, but it may well be that you can add these services at a later date as your experience and knowledge demand.

An electricity supply is more important—indeed, almost indispensable. As a young boy I worked in a workshop lit by oil lamps and candles. I didn’t find this too difficult as I knew no alternatives, but nowadays, electric lighting is ubiquitous, and you will find that the use of an electrical heating apparatus during your refinement processes helps provide a stable fermentation environment. Having said this, it is by no means impossible to work effectively without electricity. Most of the ritual workings depend on candle flame as a source of light and energy, and if the fermentation and refinement processes are carried out in the traditional seasonal cycle, they should be successful. At the same time, adequate ambient lighting can be provided by candlelight, gaslight, or battery light—as is always the case in outside rituals, particularly in remote locations.

The most important aspect of the workshop is its tranquillity and isolation. These are elements that cannot be compromised, and on that basis I have never found it possible to use a shared or temporary space as my workshop. For every practicing Druid, sooner or later it will become essential to find a dedicated workshop space.

The fixtures and fittings of the workshop are a matter of preference and may be as simple or as elaborate as you desire. The fitting of your workshop will always be a very personal expression, reflecting your inner nature and exercising your creativity. The basic contents must include:

· A sturdy work table, known as the working stone. This name remains with us from the ancient Druidic tradition, when all workings were done outdoors on a horizontal stone slab (similar to the altar of other traditions). Nowadays the working stone may be a portable table, a permanent rigid table, or in some cases the traditional stone slab upon which all the activities of refinement and crafting take place.

· Two or three chairs. For you and occasionally your students or consultees.

· Storage shelves. For all your general materials, tools, and equipment.

· One or two lightproof, lockable cabinets. For your more precious materials, complexes, and incenses (which must be stored out of direct sunlight).

With these simple fixtures and fittings in place you will be ready to gather the tools and equipment necessary to undertake the refinement processes and store the resulting complexes and incenses. But before we discuss the tools and equipment, let us take a brief look at the nature of the processes we shall be employing.