Ivan McBeth - The Bardic Book of Becoming: An Introduction to Modern Druidry

Praise for The Bardic Book of Becoming

The Bardic Book of Becoming is a book modern Druids have needed for a long time. Deeply visionary, it offers a look into the spirituality of modern Druidic practice and the underlying beliefs and ideas that sustain it. I would recommend this not only to Druids everywhere but also to all those wishing to know more of this growing spiritual practice.

John Matthews, author of The Druid Source Book
and The Celtic Shaman

This book is a paean of love for the Earth from a great smiling bear of a man. Such was Ivan McBeth. There are as many types of Druidism as there are Druids in this world, and in this book Ivan outlines what I call Druidry of the Spirit, the path of the Heart from an English Druid's perspective. Anyone who wants to learn about modern Druids will benefit from this volume, as will those following the path of Nature Spirituality. After reading the book, they will never look at the Sacred Land the same way again.

Ellen Evert Hopman, Archdruid of Tribe of the Oak and
author of A Legacy of Druids: Conversations with Druid
Leaders from Britain, the USA and Canada, Past and Present;
Tree Medicine Tree Magic; and other books

Ivan McBeth has always meant three things to me: good friend, thoughtful wisdom, and world's foremost stone-circle builder. Bigger than life, he needed two chapters in my book Stone Circles: A Modern Builder's Guide. He wouldn't fit in one. But it's the thoughtful wisdom, a lifetime's worth, that Ivan's posthumous book is all about. If you want to take up Druidry or are curious about how it would grace your lifeand that of Gaia, our planetthis book is the place to start.

Rob Roy, director of Earthwood Building School and author
of seventeen books, including Cordwood Building

The Bardic Book of Becoming bubbles with vibrancy and creativity, as did its author. A book of Druid basics, it glints with deeper wisdom. I don't agree with every word but wholly concur with its shimmering intention, its cry for personal responsibility and inspiration.

Emma Restall Orr, author of Living with Honour, The Wakeful
World, and other books on Druidry and animism

Ivan McBeth was a great teacher, guide, and a good friend. His view of the world was magical, visionary, and Shamanistic. This book is a wonderful gift and legacy to leave us all. Highly recommended.

Damh the Bard

Ivan fully lived and embodied the Spirit of the Lord of the Dance and the Greening Power of Nature, and his joyous creativity is a testament to the simple wisdom and truth at the core of his beliefs, practices, and teachings. I commend Ivan to anyone who would dance with the sun and the moon and the web of the world and find joy there.

Dr. Patrick MacManaway, author of Dowsing for Health,
Cultivating the Light Body, and Keys to Grace
and cofounder of Circles of Peace

This edition first published in 2018 by Wesier Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
65 Parker Street, Suite 7
Newburyport, MA 01950
www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2018 by Ivan McBeth and Fearn Lickfield
Foreword copyright 2018 by Philip Carr-Gomm
Afterword copyright 2018 by Orion Foxwood

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLc. Reviewers may quote brief passages

ISBN: 978-1-57863-634-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Cover design by Kathryn Sky-Peck
Cover photograph Franciscah/Bigstock.com
Interior by Deborah Dutton
Typeset in Dante MT Standard, Gotham, and Boswell Regular

Printed in Canada
MAR

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

www.redwheelweiser.com/newsletter

This book is dedicated to those who are awakening to the fact that our planet Earth, potentially a paradise, is in trouble and needs help. Actually, this only applies if the term planet includes humans. Without humans to mess up the natural order of things, the planet would be doing very well. It is really the human race that is in trouble, and of course we can't keep it to ourselves. We spread our dis-ease around everywhere and to everything we touch. Most of the healing we need to do on the land is the result of the disharmony and damage perpetrated by humans.

Those who are moving from sleep and inertia into initiation and movement need all the guidance and encouragement they can get. Whoever you are, please realize that it is no accident that you are reading this book at this moment in time. Magic is real; there are no coincidences. We are connecting right now for an important reason.

I've come to believe that there exists in the universe something I call The Physics of The Questa force of nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity or momentum. And the rule of Quest Physics maybe goes like this: If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting (which can be anything from your house to your bitter old resentments) and set out on a truth-seeking journey (either externally or internally), and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are preparedmost of allto face (and forgive) some very difficult realities about yourself... then truth will not be withheld from you. Or so I've come to believe.

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

I first met Ivan McBeth at the inaugural camp of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD) that was held in a field in Wiltshire over twenty years ago. A member of the Order had asked if he could invite a friend. This friend turned up and immediately pitched a teepee, flung off his clothes, and arranged his tent with the sides wide open, so that he could be close to the elements and the stars. What an impressive figure Ivan waslarger than life, with his smiling face and funny hat!

The next day, Ivan gave a presentation on his current project, which was working with the Marquis of Bath to build a stone circle larger than Stonehenge on the Longleat estate. Ivan seemed so free of inhibitions, such a happy personand he was engaged in such an extraordinary projectI wanted to get to know him. We soon became friends, and he joined the Order.

Then Ivan met the friend he calls June in this book and began working with her in her grove in Bristol. It was at one of their OBOD Grove meetings, when they were building a small stone circle and finding it hard to maneuver a particularly large stone, that Ivan suggested everyone touch the stone while chanting the Awen. He had remembered the story of Merlin singing the stones into position at Stonehenge. Later, he recounted how, as they chanted, the stone began to seem lighter, and they were able to maneuver it into its socket easily. A few years later, Ivan and his partner were running four camps a year for the Order and had created a series of camps to build a huge and beautiful stone circle in Surrey. They chanted each stone into place.

It was at one of these camps that I found myself in the most surreal situation imaginable and laughing more than I have ever laughed in my life. It was a very hot day and all of the campperhaps a hundred adults and fifty childrenwere engaged in a Wide Game that took place over two fields. Ivan and I had been designated as hoobliesmonstrous creatures who carried giant water pistols called Super Soakers. Our job was to cool participants down by attacking themspraying them with water.