I’m a Druid, a member of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, OBOD, a nature based spiritual fellowship. What this means for me is that I have come to see myself as part of the greater whole of nature, I am part of that wonderful matrix. As we approach the end of October I will be celebrating Samhain the start of the Celtic new year. The Celtic cultures had a different view, each day began at sunset and each year began at Samhain. they recognised the need for that period of rest before new growth and this principal permeates my life here in this remote corner of Scotland.

Living life in this way I see the seasons flow around me, a constant process of change and as I identify so closely with the natural world I see that pattern repeated in my life. I came from a period of gestation into this existence, grew, flowered and having reached the prime am now beginning to decline.

I’ve just passed the age of 74 and can no longer do what I did twenty years ago. The challenge/opportunity is to let go and be part of the flow of life. This is not to say that I sit around waiting for the end of my life. I live an active life, trying to contribute to the world in practical ways and through this blog. I like being old despite arthritis, in my older years I have through my Druidry found a self acceptance of myself that was absent in earlier life.

In this series of blogs I regularly refer to my interaction and love of water. When I was a bit younger I was actively involved in sea kayaking, venturing miles off shore in all sorts of wild conditions. In this way I learnt the rhythms of the sea and when I moved to Eilean Shona in 2014 and had to buy a boat for access to the island my knowledge of wind and tide was essential. Just the other day I was at Sanna Bay situated at the tip of the Ardnamurchan peninsula and as usual I stripped off and went for a swim in the crystal clear water. I was musing on this connection to the sea and the flow of the tides and came to see the analogy of the tides to my life. If we begin at the Winter solstice my birth was the start of the rising tide, this culminated with high tide at the Summer Solstice and then the ebb began. We are at the beginning of winter as I write this and it fits with my life at this time. I am on the ebb tide of my life, one day I will reach the low point and there will be that transition before another cycle begins because that is the way of nature and as I said earlier we are all part of that great cycle.

Death will come but what legacy would I like to leave behind? What will be your legacy?