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Druidry and Meditation by Nimue Brown

It’ll be a bit hard to write a bad review of this one, as I know the author! [it’s great, no really, lovely…] But if I didn’t then I’d still have a fair degree of insight into her from her blog at Druid Life. I’m already enjoying the book, which is written with no nonsense and an open honesty that the teacher has only partial input into the learning of the student – part of the job is for the student to go studenting and work stuff out for his self. It does however take someone with experience and not a little skill to guide the novice into meditation, and Nimue has it.

Meditation means different things to different people, but the mainstream majority appear to believe it’s all about wiping the mind clean of all thought and rising above the physical faff of daily living. Fine in a Buddhist sense, but of course for a Druid that’s wholly inappropriate, and Nimue sets the scene well for a thinking mediation; dealing with the vagaries of the physical form such as pins and needles, being cold, and finding a quiet space which doesn’t turn out halfway into the journeying to be a prime location for dogging… No, she didn’t say that, that was my own terrible experience and I’m saying nothing… nothing.

The book is around 150 pages; not large as books go. Within the covers though is contained not only a decent primer into Druid Journeying (there, journeying and meditation… perhaps I use journeying more… the Druid meditation is going somewhere, doing something… not being empty) but also a checklist of preparation, mindset and topics for study, including chanting and drumming. Many of the sections would work well simply being read aloud to a meditation group…

I think meditation and journeying are essential aspects of Druid practice, and if you needed a book to guide you in, this one would be most excellent. If only it didn’t spell honour without a u. That’s just me, I suppose, but every flippin’ time I came across honor it pulled me out of the book a bit. Heh, don’t let that put you off. It’s a worthy book. [great, no really, lovely!] Having fully read the book since I began this review I find I’ve not changed my original opinion – it’s a keeper (no, really…). Already I’ve found this is a book I pull off the shelf and flick through – having read it page by page it’s now a resource to be plundered as and when.

Oh, and there’s a Kindle version now too! No excuses, off you go… 🙂