Explore the Awen,
The Druid's idea of "the Holy Spirit." Find the nature of earth and your connection to it with Spirit Net
Explore the Awen,
The Druid's idea of "the Holy Spirit." Find the nature of earth and your connection to it with Spirit Net
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What is the Awen ?
The Awen
“An essay of personal understanding”
Have you ever heard the term “Collective Consciousness? If you have, perhaps you have wondered about it, or have even thought that you might like to tap into that. Are you a writer; a poet perhaps? Do you long to create art and song or feel that you have been drawn to this concept of life but do not know where to begin? The Awen, as it is referred to, by modern druids seeking to uncover the knowledge and wisdom of our ancestors, is symbolized by 3 dots with 3 rays of light shining down from the heavens.
Three, as you may know, is a powerful number. You hear of it often enough throughout world religions, to just in use, in note of coincidences; good things happen in threes, or bad. You see this number in the idea of the Trinity, in Christian studies; the idea of three in one. I propose this is not coincidence but the symbolism involved in balancing one’s life.
There are three primary colors from which all others are made. It takes a minimum of three legs of a stool, in order to support someone with balance; any less and it is not stable. I could go on and on about the importance of this number but that is not what this article is about, though I felt I did need to get you to understand the importance of the number three.
The three beams of light streaming down from heaven are: Knowledge, Wisdom, and Inspiration. With knowledge, one may find wisdom, and with wisdom, one may be inspired. Inspiration is a creative energy one draws from connectedness to a place and is referred to as “Anima Loci.” From this inspiration, one may create art, poetry, or song, in which to pass on wisdom and knowledge to others.
This is the basic concept of Awen but there is so much more to it. With the Awen, the conceptualized muse of the artist, from a Celtic perspective, has its energy as all-encompassing of the Earth. You can go beyond this even, and say that it makes up the universe; as all things are connected by energy. If ever there was a “Force,” of Star Wars fame, this would fall into that role. The “Anima,” a force causing someone to be moved, is the energy of the living. This is starting to sound spiritual, so I will ground it in science.
All things, as we know, are made up of atoms. Atoms have a unique energy signature, base on the amount of building blocks within them. Protons, neutrons, and electrons exist and hold a charge. These make up the periodic table of elements. Elements are the building blocks of everything else. We also know that these electrons found in atoms can be moved from one atom to the next, pushing out an electron, to jump to the next and so on. This movement of electricity is called current. This action, for the movement of electrons, requires a source potential; a power station or a battery that has enough energy to cause action is called a potential.
This can be visualized if you imagine your “potential” as a water tower that is full. Let’s say the tower holds 100 gallons of water, that is your potential. The wires from the source are pipelines and you tap the tower potential using faucets. You can use that source for as long as you have potential, and your job is to distribute the water to others so that they may drink.
This is also true of the Awen; Awen is an energy potential that, the better trained you are to tap into its potential, the better you will be at carrying its “Inspiration” to others, in the form of art, poetry, and song. That is where knowledge and Wisdom come into play. It is true that there are many people that are able to tap this inspiration and are able to carry it without ever knowing what it is or even have great knowledge or understanding of it. The very nature of Awen is that the energy is there for anyone.
Energy can neither be created or destroyed. We have been told this in science classes. It can only be transformed into something else; matter, energy, it’s one of those science laws. The trick is that, once we know how to draw inspiration from the well, called “the Cauldron of Poesy” in the Celtic culture, we need to be able to turn that energy into something others can use. Song and poetry turn its inspired energy into sound, and sound stirs all things. Sound is used in healing and in driving emotion. Try watching Star Wars without the brilliant soundtrack from John Williams; it is not the same, emotionally.
Emotion is a word that also means “put in motion.” “E-Motion!” Your inspired piece becomes a driving force; you are the potential in someone else’s daily routine. Music really does drive the world. Remember, as cool as it is that you can be a driving force, do not forget that you are part of the conduit. You are the pipe delivering from the source, not the source. I say that to keep you humble, for when you are able to gather from the Awen.
With that, remember when we discussed how much potential is in the water tower. Well, as you may imagine, as with all resources, if you draw too often from the same source, the well dries up. The source needs to be replenished, like everything else. Remember, you must give back as much as you take, in order to keep the potential in the source. This may just involve a conservative approach to taking from a resource; replant or leave alone for a while. This also means you must rest. I will refer to the number three again; There are twenty-four hours in a day and it is recommended you sleep 8 of them. That is one third of your day. The world also insists you work eight of them, to much dismay, but if you are able to work eight on your own? You also have the other eight to gather inspiration. Work, Rest, and Play aur also a Trinity to follow.
The Earth draws its energy from the Sun. Plant life, that we rely on for our energy, are the only creatures on Earth that can take light from the Sun and make sugar. Sugar is our energy source; not like cane sugar that we use to sweeten our coffee, but the sugars that our bodies rely on to chemically break down and become the potential in us. Our bodies are electrical and we are made up of atoms like everything else, so even if you consider yourself a carnivore, the energy you get from meat, first came from plants that your food ate.
Does this seem unconnected to Awen? It isn’t. In fact, this bit of science shows interdependence, and remember, one of the rays of Awen is knowledge. The more you know, the more you can understand and use the potential in anything around you. Write a prose about the incredible, magical wand of a pencil in your hand and realize that you can use that to inspire someone else.
In the beginning, I mentioned “Collective Consciousness.” Remember when I said that energy can neither be created or destroyed, but it only changes form. Well, our memories and all our energy and potential within us, is also connected to the Earth. Think about that science experiment using a magnet, iron filings, and a piece of paper. You put the magnet under the paper and sprinkle the filings onto the paper; you get the see the magnetic field around that magnet. Coil a wire around a piece of steel, a nail perhaps, and run electricity through the wire. You get, what is called, electro-magnetic induction. That steel becomes magnetic by way of the energy around it.
The Earth has energy fields all around it and we walk through them on a daily basis. Through a sort of inductance, we also get potential energies and inspirations. Sometimes it is just enough energy to get through the day, but sometimes, maybe, we can just connect with a current of energy that holds the thoughts and memories of the collective.
Take a look at the scientific study conducted by Dr. Masaru Emoto. His images show that sound and energies from all of us, from a negative word to a positive one, effect even water. Our bodies are made up of more than 70% water; in short, our bodies can hold memories of the energies around us. Those energies seep into our neural pathways and get to the super highway to our brain.
Two important lessons from this, you are what you put into you, and be mindful of who you allow into your life.
This is the Awen in a nutshell. It is science, but people have given it a spiritual place in the universe, as many spiritual practices are used to draw from it. It is the “Holy Spirit” in the Christian tradition and the chi in the Buddhist. What will really blow your mind however, is the question: what if you considered the Earth as a living entity? What if you saw the Earth as itself, a conscious being? Botanists are just recently discovering that Plants are more like humans than we first imagined. They have memories and communicate; these theories are older but were also rejected as nonsense, prior to more recent discoveries.
It is not a stretch to think that the world is conscious and itself, knows what it needs to survive. It may use this Awen as a way to communicate to us in order that we pass on the message of how we need to tend the garden. This, I know, would present the Earth as a “godlike” being, but is that really so out there? It is a Celestial object and it is alive. Does it have consciousness? Well, it seems to know what it is doing. “Nature finds a way” is a great quote from the movie Jurassic Park. With Awen, there is also the parable in the Bible: “I am wisdom, I cry out in the streets.” Proverbs 1:20 The arrogance of the human animal to believe a god must look like us. We’ve only been around in our form for about 6 million years. Ninety percent of all living things lived and went extinct before we were even here.
Spiritually, it is the Druid’s job to communicate and to pass on information from nature. The Awen is the potential source from which Bards are able to motivate people into action.
Be kind to one another…the Earth remembers.
Give Positively…and those receiving, plant, animal, or mycological alike will receive and flourish around you.
Negativity…brings negativity.
I believe this falls under Feng shui, but the principles are that of the Awen. To bring good energy to your place, to fill the potential in yourself, surround yourself with good energy. I will leave crystal studies and sound studies to you. Awen is potential energy; replenish it or draw it to you to fill your life with it.
Thank you,
Joseph W. Scott,
Also known as Hawthorn in the Grove of Dana, New Order of Druids, also of the Mystic River Grove in Massachusetts, and is the founder of the Mayflower Grove of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. My thoughts are my own and may not reflect those I am affiliated with. I hope you have enjoyed my essay.
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