© 2020 The Druid Order an druidh uileach braithreachas
Public Meetings
We have a new venue
When: Thursday January 30th.
Time: 6.30pm for a 7pm start (end 9pm).
Cost: £5
The meeting will begin with a meditation followed by a discussion around the three astrological decans of Capricorn. Organisation, Martydom and Idealism. Or any questions about the Druid Order
Where: The Goodlife Centre, 49/55 Great Guildford Street, London SE1 0ES.
Finding the Goodlife Centre.
We are about 10 minutes walk from Southwark or Borough tube stations, and about 15 minutes walk from Waterloo or London Bridge station. We are on the Southwark Bridge Road end of Great Guildford Street on the corner of Doyce Street, opposite Mint Street Park.
1st decan of Capricorn. Cygnus.
A swan flying southwards; leaving the material world and the past behind, seeking to support the rise of the spirit. Re-organisation of life patterns, business, politics, conciliating, unifying and co-ordinating. Managing. Organisation.
The Cygnus constellation is associated with several stories in Greek mythology. The most popular is about Cygnus and his close friend Phaeton, the mortal son of the Sun god Helios. Phaeton and Cygnus were racing each other across the sky when they came too close to the Sun. Their chariots caught fire and they fell to the Earth. After looking for Phaeton he discovered his body trapped at the bottom of the Eridanus river. He was unable to recover the body, so he made an agreement with Zeus: if the god gave him the body of a swan, Cygnus would be able to dive into the river, retrieve Phaeton’s body and allow Phaeton’s soul to travel to the afterlife.
In order to separate mortality from immortality, the goddess created the river to try and keep them apart, this river is called Eridanus and flows out from the cup of Aquarius.
The constellation of Cygnus as a swan creates a bridge between mortality and immortality. It restores youth and immortality to the body and mind, in the same way that sleep is a revitalising process. We cross the river Eridanus heading north to sleep and south to wake up.
In the Chinese story they use a group of magpies to form the bridge between black and white or darkness and light.