Creating the Nemeton - pt 2 (The Inner Nemeton)

So in part 1 we focused on finding a suitable nemeton in the "real" world and how to consecrate it and develop a relationship with the spirits of place there.

Now everyone however is blessed to live near a suitable woodland area. Even if you do there will be those times when weather, health or life circumstances mean you are unable to visit. At these times it pays to have developed an inner nemeton. This is a place that the wandering mind can focus on, visit and find inner calm. It is useful for meditation, for path working and also for reducing stress during challenging times.

So how does one create such a place? Quite simply, let your mind create it. Find a moment where you can be still and undisturbed. During that moment start to imagine what your ideal woodland grove would look like. Focus on everything about it. What is the lay of the land? What trees are there? Is there a stream or pool? What spirits live there? Eventually you will realise that in all actuality the place has not been created by your mind but rather existed within you all along and it is only now that the concious mind accepts it. Having accepted it, you can visit there anytime you need to.

Your inner nemeton will become very important to you. It is a place your inner self will spend much time. Eventually your body will start to react to the peace of being there and tensions can be relieved simply by visualising yourself there. This is YOUR place. No-one else can come there unless you think of them there and even then you have total control over this place. Your spirit self was co-creator of this little wooded realm and you have mastery here.

Now enjoy your nemetons, both inner and outer. Cernunnos bless you and keep you safe.

- Robin Green-Elk

Creating the Nemeton - part 1 (The Physical Nemeton)

In ancient druidic religious practice a nemeton was a sacred grove, a place for worship, devotion and sacred rites.

To follow the Green Path and heed the call of our ancestors we must create a nemeton. However, not everyone is blessed to live within easy reach of quiet woodland. In such circumstances it is wise to create the inner nemeton - a sacred grove within your kind that you can retreat to through meditation and inner visualisation at anytime. I am blessed to live near wooded areas but have still found it beneficial to create and inner nemeton too - the weather may not always be kind enough to allow the visiting of the physical nemeton.

In order to find your physical nemeton, should you be blessed to live near to woodland or forests, then follow your heart. Explore your local wood/forest until you find a quiet area surrounded by trees (preferably including an oak) that speaks to you and at which you feel divine peace visiting. Open your soul to the voices of those who inhabit there. Address them and introduce yourself. Seek their permission to join them and make offerings of food and drink. Make sure any such offerings are natural and not pre-processed pollutants. Water, organic juices, cider and mead are excellent for the liquid offering; the food offering can be a home made cake using as many natural ingredients as possible or some good wholemeal bread.

After you have introduced yourself, gained permission of the local spirits and trees and then made your offerings, sit a while and soak up the atmosphere. Start to feel this place as your true spirit home. It is your gateway to the Otherworld. You are a child of the forest and this nemeton is your sacred place within it.

Then ask for the blessing of the Stag God of the forest whom some call Cernunnos or Herne. Commune with him. If you are not sure how to commune with a spirit or deity I shall devote a forthcoming blog post to this very thing over the coming days.

You have now created your physical nemeton. You will become more linked with this place and the spirits who inhabit it will become as your family and best friends.

In my next article I shall advise on how to create the inner nemeton.

- Robin Green-Elk

Merry Meet and Blessed Be

Welcome to "Green Pagan Ways" - this is a forthcoming blog that will launch in the next week or so. It will be devoted to living our lives inspired by and at one with the forest and woodlands, and the creatures, spirits, trees, plants and deities who are our fellow denizens there. It will include articles on the craft itself; reviews of books, music and movies related to this Path; some of my own prose and poetry; and shared experiences of living a green, pagan lifestyle.

I look forward to sharing these things with you.

Leafy Blessings of the Wildwood be with you.

-Robin Green-Elk