As the rose has many petals, so over the millennia does Avalon's changing aspect provide many modern points of focus. From the ancient megalithic matriarchies to the present, the Avalon Mystery Tradition has amassed a daunting body of wisdom and lore far beyond what can be learned in one lifetime by any one person or group. Each age forms one branch of the Tradition, providing a historical point of focus upon which Avalonian groups found their spiritual practices. Through the web-working of the Celtic sisterhoods, through whose efforts many isolated Avalonian practitioners were reunited, the way was opened to the very roots of Avalon's wisdom and it is these native (or 'Faery') wisdoms that form the basis for our work in Avalon Druid Order (ADO).
Avalon Druid Order (ADO) is a product of this reflowering of Avalonian Tradition. Its magical and spiritual authority derives from Avalon's far ancestors in the time before the Celts: the Time of Legends, when Avalon, Faery, and the Lands of Men were one ... a world it is foretold will come again, when the hearts of men will open and the art of enchanting the landscape will be remembered: wisdom that is our inheritance and our legacy today. ADO offers guidance in reclaiming our spiritual birthright. Our spiritual lineage teaches self-empowerment, tolerance, and good stewardship through community, rich, continuing oral and written traditions, and a holistic worldview... We live a richly spiritual life honouring a balance with Nature; those with the courage to change and adapt will find here a template for harmonious living that is desperately needed today.
The root wisdoms learned in the Isles and Brittany by our Founder provide the basis for our life and spiritual practice in the Order. The heart of our spiritual community is the gathering around the central hearthfire where the ancestral dream is held. Here, through diligent study and practice, we are each "reborn" to Tribal life, customs, and culture: the wellspring of our Druid practice. From life in the gathering we come to know the Call to Avalon as a Call to Service. Through service we are again the heart's midwives and world stewards, and it is for this that our spiritual studies prepare us. But service comes not easily to all people. Not all who come will linger, and who can say which of us will find our greatness here and which will discover a calling elsewhere? Our way is not a way for all people, or even for all Druids.
Much has changed. Once all Druids shared our charge; now small things divide us, and the Wasteland is at our doorstep. There are strange tidings, whispers on the Winds, and many who have lingered in shadow now come forward. Most who answer the Call will falter, unmindful of who they once were, or are, or might have been. The call to sleep will claim them, and into forgetfulness they will return. For others, the voices singing over them in the deeps of dreaming will urge them on to confront their fears, and in confronting them discover truth; and in truth, trust in wisdom; and in wisdom, love of harmony; and in harmony the love of All Being.
Today we work to reclaim our ancient authority, adapting our craft to the needs of modern peoples and times. Under individual mentors in Druid Colleges, Hedgerow or Dragon Schools, or in Groves, traditional ways to inner peace and Awen are rediscovered, remembered, and explored; ways through which our world may be healed and re-sanctified today... Avalon's Druid Way is not based on Celtic Druidism. It does not derive from medieval grimoires, the minds of fantasy writers, or the annals of hostile cultures, but from a source native to Western Europe before ever the Celts came, whose wisdoms they recognized and absorbed into their own lore and practice. Our spiritual ancestors are remembered in Celtic lore, but they are not Celts, and while there are many points of overlap there remain also many important points of divergence. It is a Way unlike any other, forged by the ancestors to endure far beyond the present day.
Our story of Avalon is the prophecy of healing the Wasteland... our time one whose challenges and triumphs have been foreseen. But prophecies are not guarantees; they must be carried out by those with spirit and courage for the task, and if those people come not forward the tasks remain unfulfilled and prophecy fades to fiction. In our hearts, we know this is true. We are each here, then, in answer to this Call. Many the hands yet to come to the task, and the Path long and arduous. Those who enter here will be those with stout hearts and true callings. For the Druid-born, a harrowing path, a delightful road, and a curious turning, and to each a calling on the Hidden Way. It is a road with many windings, and which way is right none can say, for the road is different for everyone. In the end, there is only the path we follow and those from which we turn aside.
Why are you come? Not hard:You are come seeking Avalon and you have found her. And you are come seeking Wisdom, but even the Wisest cannot say if you will find it; for Wisdom is a gift from and to the Self, and many the tests of its attainment. Every choice has its consequence; even now you stand upon the point of change. Will you embrace it? ... It is said, "When the Seeker is ready, the Path reveals itself." Therefore seek you the symbols along the Way, for each is a threshold and a key. Then follow where your heart leads, and should it so prompt you ... come you in with open mind and heart and you shall be likewise met.
Be you blessed, gentle Seeker...
This Hearthfire was last kindled upon: 9 May, 2008
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Morgaine, Founding Elder Dreamer:
2 December, 2004
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As the rose has many petals, so over the millennia does Avalon's changing aspect provide many modern points of focus. From the ancient megalithic matriarchies to the present, the Avalon Mystery Tradition has amassed a daunting body of wisdom and lore far beyond what can be learned in one lifetime by any one person or group. Each age forms one branch of the Tradition, providing a historical point of focus upon which Avalonian groups found their spiritual practices. Through the web-working of the Celtic sisterhoods, through whose efforts many isolated Avalonian practitioners were reunited, the way was opened to the very roots of Avalon's wisdom and it is these native (or 'Faery') wisdoms that form the basis for our work in Avalon Druid Order (ADO). 
