We often encourage people to lay down the books, set aside the ritual, forego the intellectual writhing and simply go out for a walk as an integral part of the pursuit of this gentle spiritual path. Our goal is to be active participating partners in nature as opposed to some sort of alien onlookers peeking out through double-paned observation ports.

It is through this activity that we touch the heart of an essential paganism which has remained alive and surprisingly well through two millennia of suppression. In the course of our walks, we engage an essential paganism beyond which all else is merely rhetoric. It is the soulfire approached in ritual and meditation, the wellspring of true wisdom, and the nameless spirit of what it means to exist.

Essential paganism is that which remains after the rhetorical constructs of religion have been peeled away. It requires no title. Our Celtic ancestors were familiar with some four-hundred Gods and Goddesses yet not one name for their religion. It required none.

Essential paganism is that which has survived the ages peeking out between legend and folklore. It defies being put in a box named Druidry, Druidism or Wicca and winks between the chinks of the so-called great Western Religions. Perhaps it is the life breath of the living earth.

I believe no modern author has captured this idea of essential paganism quite as well as Morgan Llewelyn. It is woven through her books almost as softly as it is woven through the fabric of our lives…a spirituality that simply “is” and never dies.

So set aside the debates of philosophy versus religion let the books sit idle for a time, and go for a walk. Reach out and experience that essential paganism and in doing so, encounter the Divine.