Requirement #1

Written discussion of the Dedicant's understanding of each of the following nine virtues; wisdom, piety, vision, courage, integrity, perseverance, hospitality, moderation and fertility.  The Dedicant may also include other virtues, if desired, and compare them to these nine.

Wisdom

Wisdom… defined as good judgment, the ability to perceive people and situations correctly; to deliberate about and decide on the correct response.  Knowledge, astuteness, insight, perception, you may use whatever word you like; it defines the same.  

      Plato speaks about Wisdom along with two of the other virtues, Courage and Moderation.  He states that the rational soul is the thinking portion within each of us, which determines what is real and not merely apparent, judges what is true and what is false, and wisely makes rational decisions in accordance with how human life is most properly lived.  This is Wisdom.

      The Spirited soul is the active portion and its function is to carry out the dictates of reason in practical life, courageously doing whatever the intellect has determined to be best.  This is Wisdom tempered with the Courage to act.

      The Appetitive or Needful soul is the portion of each of us that wants and feels things, most of which must be deferred in the face of rational pursuits if we are to achieve any degree of self-control.  This is Wisdom supported by Moderation.

      The popular belief is that with age comes wisdom… I tend to believe that there are more children in the world with far more wisdom than most intelligent adults.  I guess it’s because most children haven’t had their world colored with experience. 

      If you were to make a list of the people throughout history that were considered “wise” what would the one defining characteristic be?  Each one of them has been considered eccentric, “out there,” crazy, heretical…  Each of these individuals thinks outside the proverbial box.  We are placed in these boxes and told to do things in a certain way from an early age.  Those people that make something of themselves are the ones that escape those boundaries.

      It’s true that as an individual matures and experiences the world they tend to be able to make more educated presumptions, but a child has only what their senses tell them.  We could learn a lot from that, most importantly that we need to pay attention to our senses, all six of them.

A Dedicant may find that his senses are expanded through both the Two Powers meditation, through the use of the meditation on the Three Kindred, and daily or at the very least weekly attention to their devotionals.  The Dedicant may also want to consider Plato’s take on the soul and the virtues to see how these ideas fit their own lives.

Piety

What is Piety?  As a virtue the Druids define it as the correct observation of ritual and social traditions, the maintenance of agreements we have with the Gods and Spirits.  Keeping the Old Ways, through ceremony and duty.  But why?  Do individuals observe these rituals and observations because they are in fear of some Divine retribution from on high for failing to give daily prayers and offerings? 

      I have found that there are three major reasons for any individual to observe the virtue of piety.  The first reason is tradition.  “This is what my family has done for generations.  Therefore, this is what I do.”  The second is a superstitious fear of retribution from some Divine parent punishing a child for behaving badly.  The third come from the truly pious individual that wishes to show their honor, respect, and gratitude to the Divine.  I suppose there is also the fourth form of “piety”, the “Poseur” that wishes to show to everyone else that they are “holier-than-thou” because they go through the motions.

      There is a question about piety that was posed by the great philosopher Socrates.  Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?  This question does rather depend on individual theology and theosophy.  Followers of polypantheistic religions may find this situation difficult because there are so many gods and therefore so many differing positions on the right and wrong of an action… maybe this discussion should be integrated into the discussion of Integrity?  However, if we were to go through this train of thought we would have to presume that certain actions could be considered both right and wrong depending on which God or Goddess you were in reverence of.  Those individuals who would worship the Death Goddess Kali would see their actions slightly differently from those who worship the Gentle Earth Mother.  Those who are Satanists and those who are Roman Catholic have vastly differing thoughts on piety and religious observance. 

      I come from a family with a tradition of Agnosticism and the concept of “piety” has never really been an issue.  I have always tried to live the life of a “good” person but until my dedication to the service of the Goddess and God in 1993 regular religious practice never really came into play in my life.  Therefore, I suppose I fall under the third category.

      Personally, I have made it a point in my life never to back out of any agreement.  If my word is given on a promise, nothing short of death would keep me from it.  This is the very reason I tend to choose my words carefully and make oaths judiciously.

      I also feel that any individual should be true to themselves and to the Gods.  No person should ever go through the motions of ritual and observation if it’s not truly in their heart to do so.  Going through the motions because they feel they have to is nothing more than lip service or “parroting” what others are doing.

      Remember that the “Old Ways” have survived not through rote dedication, but through change and transformation.  Each of us must find our own way to Piety.  We may use the “roadmaps” left to us by our ancestors, but in the end we must each take the journey ourselves.

Vision

Vision… as defined by the Druid Dedicant Program this is the ability to broaden one’s perspective to have a greater understanding of our place/role in the cosmos, relating to the past, present, and future.

      Well, that’s no small order is it?  That is essentially tantamount to asking the age old question, Why am I here?  Mankind’s whole existence at one time or another has been to answer that question.  Some have made it their life’s goal to answer it.  Some blessed others have remained blissfully ignorant of that particular issue and have never wondered about their purpose.

      Personally, I must admit that my own thoughts on the matter have changed drastically from what they were only three years ago.  I must suppose that the birth of my daughter has a great deal to do with that.  I imagine that any individual vision of their place in the universe changes from day to day, year to year, and decade to decade.  Vision itself broadens and narrows as the individual grows and matures.  The vision of a small child is infinite and spans the entire universe.  The vision of most teenagers narrows to little more than their day to day grind of school and peer pressure.  Vision changes with the introduction of a spouse and changes again with the introduction of children.  It greatly alters as age sets in and time seems to become fleeting.  Isn’t it a shame that the young look to the future and the elderly look to the past while so rarely the two meet to discuss the present?

      It seems that vision is one of the most difficult of virtues to pin down because of its changeability.  I think, though, that it is our obligation to seek our place and our roles in the universe.  The trick to successfully accomplishing this task is to break it down.  We must see our place in the community at its various levels; the community of the Grove, the local community, the Pagan community on the whole and then onto the larger levels of community of humankind and then the ambitious soul can go on to possibly the overall universal purpose. 

      I would never presume to understand my place, but when I look into the eyes of my daughter I am certain that my life has, to a certain extent, come to the purpose of helping her to understand her place in the world around us.

Courage

What is Courage?  The American Heritage Dictionary defines courage as the state or quality of spirit that enables one to face danger with self-possession, confidence, and resolution.  This may be the clinical definition, but there is more to it than that.  The Druidic definition of the virtue is the ability to act appropriately in the face of danger.  Different individuals and cultures define courage in separate ways.  For some, courage is the lack of fear that leads a person to do the seemingly impossible.  For others, an individual facing adversity in spite of their fear shows a level of courage.

      Courage does not stand alone, the courageous stand with those who have gone before and have done that which must be done regardless of personal discomfort.  The courageous are the ones that faced the pain, the ostracism, the loss of material possessions, and the threat or reality of death.  The spirit of those who have gone before stands between the courageous, behind the courageous and around the courageous.

      A person that lives by the virtue of courage must also realize how the other virtues work in tandem with courage.  For instance, Courage requires Wisdom to be able to perceive the situation and realize the appropriate action.  Integrity gives the individual the self-confidence that the action is right.  Perseverance fuels the fire of courage keeping the individual on the path they have chosen regardless of the intensity of the adversity.  Another aspect requires Vision so that the individual may see their place in the cosmos and know that they were meant to be in that place at that time.

      Though the adversity can be pain or even death, one of the greater versions of adversity that bars the way of the courageous is associated with Moderation.   I am reminded of the Pillars of Life and how they relate.  Courage stands in the center of Mildness.  To the right is Mercy and too little courage shows cowardice.  To the left is Severity and too much courage comes across as recklessness. 

      How does Courage play into the life of the Druid?  The Dedicant is faced with the negative energies that come from friends, family, colleagues, and complete strangers that may not understand the ways of the Druid.  The Dedicant may be faced with the thousand questions that come to mind, such as “Am I doing this right?  Is this the right path for me?  How do I measure up to the others, etc.?”  Lastly, the Dedicant must eventually face the inner demons of ego, self-doubt, jealousy, etc.  The Dedicant must have the courage to face these things head on and deal with them as they come into his life.  Some will be dealt with quickly and cleanly, some will take a lifetime to overcome and will plague the Dedicant throughout his life.

      So, where does the courage come from?  Is it in the heart, in the mind, or in the soul?  Is it something that you are born with, or is it a trait that is learned over time?  I believe that it is all of these things and something more that is intangible and indescribable. 

      I would like to end this with a statement that may be received with mixed reaction.  “To measure the worth of a man by his courage is to measure the vastness of the ocean by its wetness.”  By this I mean that we can not say that a man is good or bad because of how he reacts to a situation requiring courage.  We are not standing in his shoes and we cannot make the same decisions.

Integrity

What is Integrity?  The ADF defines Integrity as being trustworthy to oneself and to others, involving oath keeping, honesty, fairness, respect, and self-confidence.  The American Heritage Dictionary has a more severe definition, that of rigid adherence to a code of behavior; the state of being unimpaired, soundness.  Integrity is so much more than just keeping oaths.  Although the other virtues are intermingled with our lives, integrity pervades every aspect of the daily lives of the virtuous soul.  From the moment we wake until the moment we lay down to sleep we are faced with choices which test our integrity.  These choices are made easier or harder by how we apply the other virtues such as moderation, wisdom, courage, etc.

      Do we wake up and get to work, or do we call our boss with some story about how sick we are and go golfing instead?  Do we leave a fair sized tip for the waitress that took our order, or do we use some imagined slight as justification for leaving a lousy tip so we have money for that new Madonna CD?  Do we tell the bill collector that the check is in the mail, or do we take the time to work out an arrangement to pay what is due?  These are just a sampling of the choices we are given each day.

      Oaths and vows, promises and obligations go beyond just words.  Our words etch themselves onto our psyche and become physical aspects.  Consider the way we feel when we break an oath.  There is literally a physical sensation of sickness when an oath is broken, but a sense of relief when an oath is completed.

      Every relationship we have with each and every other human being on earth is based in some way on a vow or social obligation and we must decide what kind of person we will be by our choices.  This does not mean that we need to become doormats to the world.  We have obligations to ourselves that must be tended to also.  Take a diet for instance.  If we cannot keep the promises to ourselves, how are we expected to keep promises to others?  Perhaps promises like these should be carefully considered before making them and reasonable expectations placed.  This is an example of integrity tempered with moderation.

      There is one aspect of integrity as defined by the ADF that strongly resonates within me and I would like to expand on it.  That is self-confidence.  I tend to think that this is the key to integrity because many of the little white lies, the Herculean obligations we enter into, and the larger bald-faced lies we tell come directly from our own personal conception of how society perceives us.  If we foster a greater sense of self-confidence we will find that how society perceives us is less important as how we perceive society.

      If we are confident in ourselves and our own inevitable flaws, we aren’t as likely to focus on other people’s flaws.  When we are confident in our positions on matters, those little white lies and their larger brothers, fade away.  Of course, hospitality and moderation do sometimes require tact.  That is a balance we all will eventually come up against.

      So how do we keep our integrity in check?  First of all let’s take a page from my own experience.  NEVER make a promise you aren’t sure you can keep.  You aren’t doing anyone any favors by putting yourself in an obligation you can’t follow through.

      Secondly, take a long hard look at yourself.  Forget about the flaws for right now, we all have them and you need to eventually deal with them.  Instead, find your good points and your assets.  Take the time to list them if you feel the need.  If you have trouble finding your own good points, take the time to talk to a friend, relation, or even a colleague and ask them what they like best about you.  Don’t be afraid, but be prepared to offer your own compliment about them.

      Lastly, remember the words of my great-grandfather, “If you can’t say something nice about someone… SHUT UP!”

Perseverance

We are asked to define perseverance.  This is the persistence in or remaining constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacle or discouragement.  The ADF definition fits this quite nicely.  They define it to the Dedicant as Drive and the motivation to pursue goals even when those pursuits become difficult. 

      So how do I see perseverance?  Take this scenario of two gentlemen.  One is a soldier in Iraq.  He sleeps in the mud at night, and bakes in the sun during the day.  He puts his life at risk every day to complete a task set before him.  He stays not just because he is expected to, but because he truly wants to see little Mohammad grow up in a democratic society where he is free to speak his mind, vote his heart, and play without fear.

      The other gentleman is a smoker sitting in his office cubicle “Jones-ing” for a cigarette.  He quit six months ago and he knows if he gives in now he will destroy all the work he’s put into quitting.  He stopped because of his three-year-old daughter.  He wants to be able to participate in all the aspects of his daughter’s life like school plays, graduation, weddings, and grandchildren.

      Who would you say is the more virtuous of the two?  Perseverance can be one of the most difficult of all virtues to integrate into your own life.  The soldier could leave Iraq, and perhaps there would be trouble for him, but he knows that most people wouldn’t blame him for wanting to escape the hell he goes through each day.  The new non-smoker could light up and perhaps no one would care.  He might die from lung cancer, but maybe he will live a long life.

      The point is that these men chose to go through their own personal hell because they truly feel that their sacrifice will make the world better for someone else.  This is the key to making perseverance a part of your life.

      Those individuals who are firm in their resolution even through hardship are the people who feel passionate about their actions; the individuals who know that what they are doing is right and must be done regardless of the cost.  It is nearly impossible to persist in any action in which you have no heart.

      Here is an example for the common man; consider that diet you went on last year.  You made the resolution to lose the weight at New Years.  It’s the same resolution that you make every year and the same resolution that you break within a week every year.  Did you really expect to make it this year when your heart just isn’t in it?  Were you prepared to give 100% to the action?

      Now ask this question of the morbidly obese man who is told by his doctor that if he doesn’t lose the weight he is very likely to die within the next five years.  Does this person have more reason to lose the weight?  Do you think that perhaps this person will take the time to prepare to lose the weight with help and determination?

      Ask yourself why you take on an action requiring a virtuous application of perseverance.  Is it worth the cost or could your energies be applied to more constructive endeavors?  When you find that the endeavor is worth the cost, you’ll find the energy to succeed.

      As a side note, purely for the record, I have a daughter and my wife brought her into the world on May 6, 2004.  This was a day of perseverance for us as a couple.  My wife went as far as she could go through natural child birth before the doctor stepped in and decided that surgery was necessary.  Hers was a physical, mental, and emotional journey.  Me?  I’m not sure how other fathers dealt with the birth of their children, but personally it is heart wrenching to watch my wife go through such a journey when I know that nothing I can do will be of any help save being there through it all.  I had many occasions to leave with a friend of mine, but I knew my wife didn’t have that choice and so I stayed through the pain.

Hospitality

The ADF definition of Hospitality dictates acting as gracious host, and an appreciative guest, involving benevolence, friendliness, humor, and the honoring of “a gift for a gift.”  This is one virtue that my wife and I share in great amounts.  We love to have the sound of guests in our home.  In the past we have always had the philosophy of what is ours is yours.  We have never really thought that anything in our home actually belongs to us (sort of a throwback from my family’s gypsy days.)  The ADF definition of hospitality is rather lofty, but you don’t really need to know all that about hospitality.  However, there is more to hospitality than being a gracious host.  It also has a great deal to do with being a gracious guest.  I will try to go into detail with both.

When people speak on the subject of hospitality, usually they refer to being a gracious host.  One must be polite and give their best when company comes to visit.  Sometimes an individual must be gracious, even when the guest is someone they would rather have fall off the face of the earth and to have as a guest in their home.  There is so much more to this particular virtue than that.  We must also find ourselves as gracious guests.  We must always put our best foot forward and not abuse the hospitality of our host.

We all know what it is like to be on both sides of the hospitality coin.  We don’t want to be the kind of host that people say, “Don’t accept the invitation of those people, they are so stingy and rude to their guests.”  We want people to want to visit and, alternately, we want to be invited to other people’s homes.

Something I remember from my past on etiquette that I feel, in some way, relates to the concept of hospitality.  How relevant this is may be up to the reader.  “A Lady is a woman that makes a man act like a Gentleman.  A Gentleman is a man that returns the favor.”

But, again, there is so much more to hospitality.  We tend to forget that in our sacred spaces we are both hosts and guests of and to the Kindred.  We create special places in our homes so that we may invite the Shining Ones, the Ancestors, and the Nature Spirits into our homes.  We give our best to them so that they will want to stay with us and hopefully bless our homes and our lives as a sign of thanks for our efforts.  When we are in those sacred spaces we are expected to act in a certain manner.  (Especially in the case of public ritual, but that is another matter completely.)

If we create an altar in our home and we neglect to attend to it, it is unlikely that the Kindred will want to visit, and when we share the Sacred spaces with them, we want to present ourselves as gracious guests.

It is no easy task to bring this virtue into our lives.  There are so many aspects to the term hospitality that we tend to forget that even the simplest relationship between two people can form into a category of hospitality.  Even the relationship between two enemies has the aspects of hospitality.  Remember the Golden Rule from Sunday School?  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  What relationships we create affect us.  This is the concept of “gift for a gift.”  It doesn’t necessarily mean that when we give someone a gift we will get a gift in return, or inversely that if we are presented with a gift, we have to give one in return.  It means that what we give out will eventually return to us and that when we receive some form of gift, we are obligated in some fashion to return the favor, even if it is as simple as a heartfelt, “Thank you!” 

On a final note, personally, years ago my wife and I honored the Goddess Mother by dedicating our land to Her use, as She saw fit to use it.  We have always said that we would welcome all those who would come to our door, no matter how much we may detest the individual.  I would guess that was how the Ancients felt when their enemies would call upon them for hospitality.

Moderation

I am rather certain that of all nine virtues, as Americans, this is the most difficult virtue to attain.  We are rather a decadent country and there are many in the world that resent us for our Capitalistic tendencies.  We are a throw-away society but I do not intend to stand on a soapbox for this essay.

      Moderation is defined as falling within reasonable limits, not excessive or extreme.  This follows with the ADF definition of cultivating one’s appetites so that one is neither a slave to them nor driven to ill health, (mental or physical), through excess or deficiency.

      I am reminded of the Three Pillars.  The philosophy of these pillars is found in our lives and the virtue of Moderation will help to keep us balanced in all of the rest of the virtues.  Courage is one of the finest examples.  On one side is the Pillar or Severity.  This is too much Courage which will lead to recklessness.  The other is the Pillar of Mercy.  This is too little Courage which will lead to cowardice.  In the center is the Pillar of Mildness:  Balanced Courage.  We can find these forces of balance in all of the other virtues if we only take the time to meditate on them.

      Personally, I like to think that my biggest obstacle to weight loss is my underestimation of the power of moderation.  I like to eat… I don’t like to exercise.  Of course I could eat as much as I like as long as I balance it with the proper amount of exercise… which after the holidays requires running to California and back with a rather large couch on my back.

      However, I find myself off the topic.  The Dedicant may again use the Two Powers meditation to find balance within them.  There is a balance between the Sacred Fire above and the Holy Water below and when we find ourselves out of balance we can look within for the answers.  Usually, we realize that we already know what areas are unbalanced and how to fix the problem.  Finding the willpower to do so is the real problem.

Fertility

The Dedicant handbook defines fertility as bounty of mind, body and spirit, involving creativity, production of objects, food, works of art, etc., and an appreciation of the physical, sensual, nurturing.  I tend to refer back to the American Heritage Dictionary for an inclusive definition and the AHD has this to say about fertile: “Capable of reproducing, initiating, sustaining, growing and developing; prolific.” 

I think that the aspect of growing and developing is one of the most important.  Any individual may be able to create works of art, or prepare food, or be “productive” in some way.  However, I find that it is a waste of energy if there is no growing or maturing within the individual or within someone else because of those works.  There almost has to be something outside of the obvious in the creation of a form of art or a well prepared feast.

For example, perhaps the artist chisels out a statue to express some form of emotion (anger, hatred, depression) that has felt bottled up inside him.  Now the emotion has been let out, the artist can deal with it properly.  (At least that’s what the psychologists tell us.)  Now, not only the artist is improved through his work, but there can be others that can appreciate the artwork and bring for themselves a sense of accomplishment. 

On a daily basis we throw together whatever food we have in the fridge in order to sustain us, but a truly fine feast can be created when the family gets together to prepare the meal, set the table, actually sit at the table and have a conversation during the dinner.  With those elements, even macaroni with cheese and hotdogs has become a fertile and producing feast.  There is love, there is unity, and there is strength.  That is fertility because something else has been produced in the creation of the meal outside of the meal.

Fertility is also about nurturing things that aren’t necessarily of your own creation.  I think a saying that illustrates this most eloquently is, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  We must all be aware of our part in creating a better society through nurturing, mentoring, and protecting society’s most precious commodity; its children.  We shape the future of the world by our own actions towards them, in hopes that they will learn to do the same for the next generation.

Now how does this virtue tie in with the Kindred?  For me I find that some of the best creative works have come lately from my desire to bring to the Kindred a token that truly represents the honor I was trying to convey.  In taking into consideration how this ‘object” will be received we also show a form of fertility of the mind.  Just throwing some old thing together defeats the purpose for which it is created.

The Dedicant may find their own sense of fertility by taking a look at the simple things that they do each day and finding out how their actions benefit themselves and the people around them.  Not just them, but the environment they are in.  The more individuals that are affected along the way the more productive and fertile they may find themselves.

However, there is still more to fertility.  Several of the requirements for completion of the Dedicant Program deal strictly with improving the self through meditation (or at the very least attempts at meditation), creating a personal relationship with the Kindred, and creating a personal form of worship based on a culture or cultures. These are all aspects of fertility and creation of the mind, the soul and the spirit.

All of these aspects are necessary as part of the whole.  To honor the Kindred, we must become the very best we can become; to become more than we were and to help others to do the same.  Hopefully, through our actions and our works we can inspire others to do the same.

On a more personal note, while at Saint Vincent’s Health I often felt that as a paper-pusher I was never truly very productive.  Not like when I work in a factory making automotive parts.  This left me with a feeling of a lack of function and productiveness.  So I found that I had to take my sense of virtue outside of the workplace and let my home life play a greater role in this path of virtue.