Consecration of ArchDruidess / ArchDruid

Fellowship of Isis Liturgy
By Olivia Robertson
Druid Clan of Dana

Consecration of an ArchDruidess / ArchDruid

Druid Procession to sacred site. Grove Companions wear many-coloured hooded robes, gold lunulae. Druidesses carry wands, Druids, staffs. All wear chaplets of leaves. Archdruidess, Archdruid and Bard wear three gold bars of light above brow on headdress. Let there be a Dolmen altar, vessel of blessed water, a fire and brazier of burning herb incense.

ArchDruid: Noble Companions of the Druid Clan of Dana, we are assembled in this sacred place for the consecration of this Herenach, Companion of our Grove, as ArchDruid / ArchDruidess. Let the Candidate be presented!

Candidate in Druidic blue robes of a Herenach, led forward by Sponsor.

ArchDruidess (raises wand): I invoke the Goddess Dana, Mother of our Druid Clan, Mother of all Beings, bless us with Thy Presence!

ArchDruid (raises staff): I invoke the God Manannan mac Lir, God of the Oceans of Space, Bearer of the Wheel of Time, honour us with Thy Presence!

The Goddess of the Grove and Her Consort are invoked.

Druidess: May the Companions be anointed with blessed water from the Well at World’s End, Water of Wisdom. (Druidess anoints each brow with blessed water.) May true vision awaken!

Druid (holds up brazier of burning herb incense): The fire within the Great Aug, Egg of the Earth, brings life to all that is! (He passes around the Companions censing them with smoke.)

ArchDruid (to Candidate): Are you willing to undertake the work of ArchDruid / ArchDruidess in the Druid Clan of Dana?

Candidate: With the blessing of Dana, I am willing.

ArchDruid: The ceremony may proceed.

ArchDruidess: Let us seek the Oracle of Dana.

Companions proceed to an inner sanctum where an entranced Druidess and Druid are seated by a small fire, robed from head to foot. Face of Druidess concealed in a deep blue robe. ArchDruidess anoints brow of Druidess with blessed water. ArchDruidess then raises her hands above head of Druidess.

Invocation

ArchDruidess: Dana, cloaked with the blue of the sky, Whose golden hair and radiant face is like the sun, Queen of Heaven and Earth, may Your Divine Love bless us all!

ORACLE OF THE GODDESS DANA

Oracle: How lovely it is for Me to welcome you all to my hearth! My hearth fire is the Inner Sun not only of your Earth - it burns bright within every planet encased in soil and stone. This Inner Sun comes from mighty stars inconceivable in magnitude. Yet this flame also enlightens the small and humble ones - My emblem, the ladybird - and courses through all the many-hued birds, who are My harbingers.

To know the aim of My Clan, you may come to Me through the portals of sleep. For sleep is the veil that mercifully protects from the often terrifying memories of our past lives. When you invoke Me before sleep, My Cloak shall protect you. My Cloak does not conceal evil, but its multi-colored rays give you the power to transform evil into good - what you fear can only be transformed through love.

When you confront those who follow evil, do not blame them. Do not torture yourself with speculation: rather recognise the Hidden Sun within them and bring it forth. This is the source of all miracles - and I am the Goddess of Miracles. Those who long for divine beauty may veil themselves in My Blue Mantle of Celestial Seas, and rise to My domain in the stars.

Bard: What did you gain from the Oracle?

(Candidate gives report)

ArchDruidess: Let us seek the Oracle of Manannan mac Lir.

ArchDruidess anoints brow of Druid with blessed water. ArchDruidess then raises her hands above head of Druid. Oracle of Manannan mac Lir given by Druid with face concealed by hood of cloak.

Invocation

ArchDruid: God of Wisdom of the Deeps, Arbiter of Destiny through the Spirals of Your Magic Wheel that travels through Time and Space, inspire us with true Vision.

ORACLE OF THE GOD MANANNAN MAC LIR

Oracle: My dear friends, the last gift most of you pray for is wisdom! You supplicate for love, abundance, success. But no gift of the Deities is of any value, without wisdom. You ask what is this wisdom? In your minds, I perceive a vision of some white-bearded sage, a man in long robes, somewhat in the fashion in which you externalize the word ‘God.’ But wisdom is not ancient. It is ever renewing. The mistake well-meaning philosophers and teachers are apt to make is that wisdom is conveyed in ancient texts, almost worshipped in scriptural idolatry. But who would drink sour milk? Milk may be a more apt description of wisdom than written words because it is during the night that divine inspiration is conveyed to the soul while the body sleeps.

The oral tradition of the Druids and Shamans has been deemed a failure. Why? Because the written word has superseded it. But in truth no reality can be conveyed through obedience to commandments of ancient writings, without the inner understanding of the seeker! Know the mighty Truth - the fount of wisdom is within each one of you - and lest you are proud of being unique as human, this same wisdom is in the sagacious wolf and the flight of the heron. For wisdom is transcendental alchemy. A descending light of illumination blending heaven with everyday experience. Sublime utterances, celestial visitations, spiritual and psychic revelations, are not only meaningless, but often dangerous, when starved of personal experience.

My injunction to those of you who follow the Clan of Dana is to fly with the swans, but also return safely to your nests! Thus you will stay sane. Sanity is the hard won fruit of wisdom.

Bard: What did you gain from the Oracle?

(Candidate gives report)

ArchDruidess: Our thanks are given to Dana and Manannan mac Lir!

Procession to Dolmen altar.

ArchDruid: May the Sponsor speak for the Candidate.

Sponsor gives encomium for Candidate.

ArchDruidess: Let the Candidate tell us of planned work to nurture beauty and happiness within the world, through communion with Dana and all the Shining Ones.

Candidate gives oration.

ArchDruid: Let the Candidate tell us of planned work to nurture harmony and wisdom within the world, through use of hand and heart in accord with Dana and all the Shining Ones.

Candidate gives oration.

ArchDruidess: In the name of Dana, we accept you as ArchDruid / ArchDruidess. (Anoints Candidate’s brow with blessed oil.) With this oil I consecrate you as ArchDruid / ArchDruidess!

ArchDruid places bronze pectoral on Candidate.

ArchDruid: In the Name of Manannan mac Lir wear this pectoral. May the light of Sun and Moon illuminate thy heart.

ArchDruidess crowns Candidate with chaplet of leaves.

ArchDruidess: In the Name of Dana I crown you. May your work bring love and happiness to all beings.

If Candidate is female:

ArchDruid gives female Candidate a yew wand engraved with sigils.

If Candidate is male:

ArchDruid gives Candidate an ash staff engraved with sigils.

ArchDruid: In the Name of (Patron and Patroness of Grove) I present you with this wand / staff. May it endow you with strength tempered by compassion.

ArchDruidess: Before our Companions and friends here assembled, I declare (name of Candidate) as ArchDruid / ArchDruidess in the Druid Clan of Dana!

ArchDruid: I declare before us all (name of Candidate) as ArchDruid / ArchDruidess in the Druid Clan of Dana!

Each Companion declares acceptance and embraces new ArchDruid / ArchDruidess.

ArchDruid: Hear the wisdom Manannan mac Lir, given as He inspires:

The true leader has humility and allows others to find their way, assisting only when asked. It is not always the obedient companion who achieves the goal of self-sovereignty, but the rebel! For in truth the ardent soul, enflamed with inherent divinity, will not easily submit to orders, whether these be spoken or inscribed on tablets of stone. There is a selective daemon, a mocking spirit within each one of us, which may be called jester. In reality it is the protector of our own individuality. Respect this not only in yourself, respect this in others.

ArchDruidess: Harken to message of Dana, given as She inspires:

True wisdom lies in the ability of fair exchange - it is good to give, it is also necessary to receive. The well of knowledge has a deep fount: each true seeker of wisdom holds within a tiny seed - if nurtured it will grow into a mighty tree. Nourishment from the Well of Life is all the seed requires. Take care not to drown it with admonition, or stifle it with rigidity. The Druid Path of the Goddess is that of Instinct, Art and Intuition, gifts now dormant within so many. It is older than that of the God, honoring only the Intellect and Sciences.

ArchDruid: Heed these words of Manannan mac Lir:

Goddess and God in reality are One. We rejoice in our differences! When Divine Creation split itself in Two - it was to enjoy Itself! Rejoice and do thou likewise!

ArchDruidess or Sponsor gives a magical journey to the heaven of the tradition of the Grove - whether Elysium, Land of the Peaches of Immortality, Field of Reeds, Paradise, Valhalla or Many Coloured Land of Heart’s Desire.

Reports are shared and Rays of Love, Joy and Wisdom are sent forth to all Beings. Thanks are given to the Deities.

Certification as ArchDruidess / ArchDruid is provided. A Charter for the new Grove in the Druid Clan of Dana is presented.

Feast is celebrated in honour of new ArchDruidess / ArchDruid.

Sources: “Rite of Dana, Druid Initiation,” Olivia Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle, Ireland, 1992. Pliny the Elder, "Historia Naturalis" ("Natural History," XXIX.52), Volume VIII: Books 28 - 32, Loeb Classical Library series, translation by W. H. S. Jones, William Heinemann, London & Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1963. “Ordination of Priestesses and Priests,” Olivia Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle, Ireland, 1983.