8 tell him their names. As you do this, with each name you give him, he sprinkles herbs on the logs, so they burn more brightly.
As you come to the end of the list, he speaks again, telling you that all those that have gone before you, send you their love and blessings and wish you joy on this life ' s journey.
He then disappears and you sit for several more minutes reflecting on this experience before returning to your own room.
Don ' t forget to write about your experiences in your notebook. Now it is time for us to look at how these four elements connect together.
Let ' s take an obvious scenario. You are camping near a river and sitting around a camp fire. You have the element of Air all around you, the element of Earth under and around you, the element of Water nearby and the element of Fire in front of you. I am sure you can think of other times and places where you find all four elements together. Being a druid, is being aware of all around you and how they interconnect. What we are doing is really at quite a basic level but you have to start somewhere.
By now you should be more aware of each of these elements and their spiritual meanings as you go about your daily life. You should also be aware of how precious each element is to us and give it the respect it demands.
Think about your daily life and see if it has changed while you have been doing this work. Are you more aware of how you do things? Do you have more respect for the elements around you?
Write down some of these thoughts in your notebook. It may be that you have changed the way you do certain things. Note these too.
One final imaginary journey with the elements before we move on.
Imagine you are sitting outside on a summer evening around a camp fire. Although it has been a warm day, the evening breeze cools the air so you sit near to the fire.
You relax and allow your eyes to close. You can hear the crackling of the flames but then you hear a light footfall and you sense that someone is standing in front of you. You open your eyes and see a figure dressed in a long cloak and holding out a bowl towards you. The bowl us earthenware and a beautiful deep brown in colour. It is filled with water.
You take the bowl and place it on the ground in front of you. Then you use your hands to splash your face with the water, tasting it as it runs down your face. The water smells and tastes fresh as if from a spring. The figure picks up the bowl and empties it on the ground. No words are spoken but you have an inner understanding of everything that has occurred. You feel refreshed and renewed from the water.
You look up towards the fire, the figure has gone, but you know that something special has taken place.
When you return home from, this imaginary journey, write about your experiences in your notebook.
Now it is time to move on and learn something else about the druids and how they work. Gladys Dinnacombe
Tarot Workshop – with Patrick Kavanagh
It was another full house at The Avalon Room at Barney’ s Café in Barnetby for the tarot