Under a Winter Moon
It is hard sometimes to celebrate the long dark of winter. For many, the slowly shrinking light and growing cold bring with them each year a familiar sense of dread. Though the season just before Christmas is full of twinkling lights, mulled wine, and breathless anticipation, January through March can seem empty and dark. Thousands of eager bloggers, authors, and researchers will share Ten Versions of Hygge From Around the World and The Eight BEST Activities for Staying Inside. I’ve hopped on many a harebrained idea during these months in a misguided attempt to feel productive on evenings where I’ve holed up inside because the sun set at 4:30 pm. In many ways, it feels like the AODA’s Moon Path — with its focus on keeping a calm mind, experiencing moments as they come, and engaging in intentional learning — was made to address this very thing.
Looking closely at the requirements of the third and final path reveals the thoughtfulness with which the AODA’s candidate year was constructed. It weaves the structured learning and self-reflection of the Earth Path into the nature-and-ritual-focused spirituality of the Sun Path.
The Moon Path asks that the candidate practice some form of meditation regularly during their Candidate year. Though the AODA is open to any meditative practice, it asks that the Sphere of Protection ritual should be learned and practiced alongside your meditation of choice. I’m not totally sure what that is, at this point, but it brings to mind something comforting and warm. Meditation is not new to me, and I look forward to the extra encouragement to become a regular practitioner.
The second half asks the candidate to start their Ovate, Bardic, or Druid Exploration by engaging in activities that introduce one to some aspect of one of these three branches. Druidry loves the number three — you will see it again and again as you read into the values, beliefs, and history of its adherents. The work within a Druid Order, therefore, is often split into three branches. The Ovate branch is the branch of the scientist, asking candidates to deepen their understanding of the mechanisms and processes of ecosystems and the environment. The Bardic branch encourages artistic expression and a re-acquaintance with working with your hands to create something new. Finally, the (somewhat confusingly-named) Druid branch centers on understanding more about ritual and mysticism, asking candidates to look inwards and reflect on some of the more esoteric Druid magics.
Regardless of which branch you pick, the only true requirements are that the candidate must dedicate a minimum of 20 hours to their chosen subject as part of their exploration, and the subject must be new to them. The goal, it seems, is simply to broaden your horizons. The AODA suggests taking a class, developing self-directed study, and volunteering as potential pathways to fulfill this element of the Moon Path, though as always these are simply suggestions.
Which of the three paths I pursue — and what topic I commit myself to — is still up in the air, and I have a bit of time to decide. I love learning, and, as a scientist, the Ovate path seems like the obvious right choice. That in and of itself gives me reason to reconsider. We are too often avoidant of discomfort. I am guilty of this in very real ways, at home, work, and play. I don’t know exactly where I hope this year of exploration will take me, but I feel strongly that it should involve at least some amount of uncertainty, of challenge, and of growth.
