Druidcast – A Druid Podcast Episode 91

Shownotes for DruidCast Episode 91

Wicker Man – Spiral Dance – www.spiraldance.com.au

Interview with Kristoffer Hughes (www.kristofferhughes.co.uk) by Philip Carr-Gomm (www.philipcarr-gomm.com)

Samhain – Jana Runnels and Kat Brown – http://sacredhome.co.uk/welcome.html

Long Black Curl – Tuatha Dea – www.tuathadea.net

DruidCast theme – Hills they are Hollow – Damh the Bard – www.paganmusic.co.uk

For further information on the Druid tradition – www.druidry.org

15 responses to “Druidcast – A Druid Podcast Episode 91”

  1. Dearest Dave,
    I am not sure why this time is important but I have been prompted to offer this meditation that I spoke at my Paternal Grandfather’s death ceremony. I called it “Letting go of heartache and a soul’s release”. I hope it can be read one day at a future Samhain ceremony. Mx
    Although this is a sad day, a day of reflection, if you wish, feel free to join me in a moment’s meditation to guide us through this time.
    Simply take a deep breath, hold it briefly then let it go – and, if you wish, close your eyes.
    Now focus on your heart centre – this is the area where you hold on to lost loves, grief over loss and sorrow for what might have been. As you focus on your breathing, and imagine a vibrant green colour. Ask your spirit guides and loved ones on the other side to assist you in releasing any wounds or sorrow you may be carrying.
    As you bridge the gap between worlds, visualise your spirit guides and loved ones around you. Pure healing light shines from eac h one of them as they send loving thoughts of kindness and gentleness your way.
    Let their pure love enter your heart. See this loving energy break up and disperse any feelings of anger, resentment, fear and pain you may have there.
    Start to imagine the light purple colour of Amethyst. Continue to let your distant relative’s thoughts of love penetrate your heart space until you feel all the old, negative energy transmute into tiny particles of positivity and leave your body through your fingers and toes. Visualise this energy traversing the universe and dissolving amongst the heavens, transmuting negative into a very positive, healing vibration.
    Now, your loved ones and spirit guides are smiling. They continue to send their light and love your way. When you are ready to open your eyes to the love that you have already shared and to the love that is being shared with you, you will fee l so much better. A heavy burden is being lifted from your heart.
    At last, you can let go – knowing that as you bury, inter, cremate or release your lved one to the sea – you become aware that your close one is happy to move on in the knowledge that you too will have the joy of the journey. You will see. x

    Thank you and Bright Blessings to you all

  2. Could not have heard this at a better time. I was working on reflecting upon a forensic anthropology conference I had to attend for my university level Death, Burial and Culture course. Upon hearing about Kris Hughes’s new book about Death and Dying from a Pagan perspective I immediately went to Amazon to order it. Looking forward to reading it. Lovely program, as always, Damh!

    -Brenna Adaira

  3. A timely and relevent airing of this interview. I was very upset and saddened by a transphobic slur casually used three times in this episode. I’ve sent an email in greater detail to the Druidcast gmail, and hope it will be acknowledged and reconciled soon. We all make mistakes!
    /|\ Quill

    • Greetings Quill,
      Thank you for your email. I have to admit to being ignorant of the dual nature of the word used by Kris. His use was to describe his transvestite nature when it comes to shoes, and the idea of Druids being the first transvestites (robes being very much like dresses) and it was in no way used in connection with transsexuals or transgender people. I’ve just surfed the internet and have discovered there is a negative association to the word. A shame for the many transvestites and gay people who have used it for years with no problem, but also shows the minefield of language and political correctness. Within Kris’ gay community it’s still used as a term of endearment.
      My apologies for any offence this caused you and please rest assured it was not used in any derogatory way towards transgender people.
      In peace,
      Damh

      • Hi Damh,

        Thank you for clarifying a bit. It’s well appreciated. I do think there’s still a small misunderstanding going on though.

        While Kris might not have intended to hurt anyone with his language, but the t word has taken on almost entirely negative connotations since it was first used, and its appropriateness is currently a hot debate in the gay community. This might be a generational thing as well, as everyone in my community sees it as a slur against transgender people specifically (I’m a lesbian, for reference). For many people this word has a lot of violent connotations. To speak from experience, I’ve been out with transgender and gender non-conforming friends before and we’ve had bottles thrown at us, aggressive people calling us “queers” and “trannies”, and we’ve been followed home. Even though Kris didn’t mean to evoke those images, for many people hearing that word is going to be like a punch to the stomach.

        But the hardest part was not hearing him use that word. It has a complex history in gay and transgender communities, and I understand that it wasn’t his intention to hurt transgender people. But hearing Philip and all the other OBOD members laugh about it was the worst. It felt like they all thought being transgender was one big joke. It’s easier to process now, since I understand you didn’t know it had that meaning. But I listened to this podcast and I had to wonder how welcome my transgender friends and loved ones would feel if I encouraged them to listen to Druidcast and this was the first thing they heard.

        It would be very meaningful to have this misunderstanding acknowledged in a future podcast. As you might know, there has been a lot of tension in many other pagan circles concerning where transgender folk fit in, and I think many people are curious as to where OBOD stands in all of this. Moreover, as more people join our community, it might be nice to have more talks about diversity in druid communities. Since we’re growing, there are going to be unfortunate, yet inevitable growing pains. I think it could do a lot of good to start talking about it before people get misconceptions about druidry and leave before they get the chance to truly experience what a wonderful path this is.

        I know this was long, and I hope you get a chance to read it. I know you have the best of intentions.

        • Thanks for the comment Carmen. To be honest I don’t think there is any misunderstanding anymore. I understand now that the word has a different meaning within the transgender community and that the meaning is a negative one. One word can have different meanings within cultures and it is how it is used that defines the word. Kris was making a joke that he is a transvestite from the ankle down due to his love of fancy shoes. The idea and the way Kris delivered this comment was full of humour, which is why people laughed. They were not laughing at transgender people, the comment wasn’t about transgender people, they weren’t laughing at transvestites either, they were laughing at Kris’ delivery that a person might be a transvestite on only one specific area of their body. The idea is funny, it was a joke. So please let me reiterate again – the comment, and the context it was used by Kris, had no connection with transgender people.

          I’ve been at a couple of events where transgender people have been excluded from rites as they were organised for ‘women who were born women’. This is definitely an area where dialogue is needed and I know it is happening. You ask where OBOD stand with this. The answer for us is simple, everyone within the Order is equal with everyone else. OBOD makes no judgements on race, colour, gender or sexual preference and is open to all.

          • Episode 91 has been edited and uploaded again. The iTunes and Soundcloud versions are now replaced. It might take a little time for it to filter out to the other places like Stitcher radio but those will change too.

            DruidCast is meant to be uplifting and joyful – a free service for the Pagan, Druid, Wiccan community. It is obvious that Kris never meant to cause offence to anyone, but there is enough pain out there in the world without adding to it, so apologies that it took so long to change. It is obviously a very serious issue for transgender people – much more so than I at first thought.

            With love and respect.

    • Episode 91 has been edited and uploaded again. The iTunes and Soundcloud versions are now replaced. It might take a little time for it to filter out to the other places like Stitcher radio but those will change too.

      DruidCast is meant to be uplifting and joyful – a free service for the Pagan, Druid, Wiccan community. It is obvious that Kris never meant to cause offence to anyone, but there is enough pain out there in the world without adding to it, so apologies that it took so long to change. It is obviously a very serious issue for transgender people – much more so than I at first thought.

      With love and respect.

  4. Speaking as a member of the transgender community I have found OBOD to be very accommodating and non judgmental. I approached the office when I came out as it were about the possibility of changing my membership to reflect my gender and found everyone to be wonderful.

    Yes the word has connotations that are not nice but I also feel that we must keep this in perspective and not lose the ability to laugh at ourselves.

    Many blessings
    Sarah.

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