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- a collection of essays on Neodruidic Studies
- a journal of Post-Reconstructionist Neopaganism

Sunday, March 22, 2015

When the Pattern Instructs the Pattern-Maker


At first, I wrote them down this way:

"THREE PARTS TO OUR NEODRUIDIC SPIRITUALITY"  


Conversation with the
GODS and other SPIRITS

Celebration of
LIFE and the LIVING

Reverence for
the DEAD
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Recognizing them then as a set of sacred three,
I felt compelled to arrange them as a triskelion...
which immediately begged the question of 
an implied hierarchy, i.e., were I to proceed,
which of the three goes above the other two?


Now, there are the anarchists, contrarians and others who will reject anything to do with hierarchical arrangements as implicitly "wrong" and may (or may not) have a well thought out rationale behind the reflex, but when, as I have all my life, one works with creating geometric diagrams for the use of revealing or clarifying the componentry of a system, sometimes I've found what I can only describe as a "mystery-teaching" arises that operates along the lines of numerical and/or spatial principles on the page which themselves begin to first challenge and then instruct the artist, opening further levels of meaning and hidden principles as the artist progress through the piece.

The making of mandalas may be the work of a teacher, one seeking to convey complex ideas more simply, yet we see that, in-process, the teacher-as-artist resumes the role of student, if, instead of pounding square pegs through round holes, we agree to listen to the wisdom of number, sequence, form and beauty.

This is not artifice; these are the ways of Nature.

Here is what the process made me (-taught me to) choose this time:


To me, this is the business of Our Druidism.


6 comments:

  1. Love it, though I learned it, " when Da doodal dum da de doodaler, dippsy dee di do dum!"or when the doodler is a a doodling a doodle of a doodler doodling! I like your way better, as a busy Druid!

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  2. Lovely image. What is it from?

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    1. It's from the wonderful movie "Agora"(2010), about the life of the philosopher, scientist and polymath Hypatia of Alexandria in the 4th Century...

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  3. Very much what I find doodling knotwork, playing with different patterns, which metaphorically speak to the infinite varieties of interaction amongst people, Kindred, actions, etc. There's a certain level of metaphor available to the observer -- but much deeper meditative levels when you actually *do* it. Knotwork appears simple, being "thick" 2D work (what could be found by making it 3D?!), but the potential complexity is infinite variety. Simple patterns are more accessible, but deeper patterns are also there for those who wish to delve. Thanks for this! I love spirals and knotwork.

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  4. I get too stuck upon the swirls and whirls of the bottom two and much too often neglect the uppermost wheel.

    Thank you for the reminder.

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