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I am Donna Lyon Rhose and I am Creator and Founder of the Eldritch Tradition and in that Tradition am a Bard and Its Bard Master. In this forward, I hope to convey what I mean by both a Bard and this particular and especial Tradition.
I do not purport or would attempt to answer the question for others of what a Bard is. I can only answer for what it is to me and my Tradition. To me and to the Tradition that I founded, a Bard, simply put, is a Shamanic Artist. I could say it is a Spiritual Artist, but it is really more, deeper than that. It is someone who not only touches into other realms and other realities for themselves, but also for others. And in that touching expands both theirs and others awareness. With hopes of increasing and uplifting spiritual understanding. In every Artistic endeavor a Bard undertakes, she or he does so with that aim in mind; to expand, to uplift, to become more spiritual in understanding. And in the Eldritch Tradition there is also a good deal of emphasis on healing, for it seems we often need such as we open the doors to greater, expanded awareness.
Basically, the Eldritch Tradition and Bardic Path is composed of a series of exercises. The exercises of this Bardic Path do some curious things. They are meant to cause a recreation of Synesthesia in the Student, bringing about a greatly heightened awareness and pleasure in life. They also cause a wonderful bi-product in the group setting. That bi-product is a remarkable awareness of our 'difference's, especially in how our minds perceive life.
 Synesthesia is quite simply the crossing over of one's senses, sometimes even effecting the simultaneous stimulation of all senses at once. It is, however, 'not' the association of one sense for another, but rather, quite definitely the ability to hear a color, smell a sound, taste an emotion, etc. in a 'nonassociative' sense. As an example, if I took the color blue, I might say that it has a slightly sweet taste, though I don't have an association of just what sort of sweet. Its tone is clear, long and midrange, sometimes with soft harmonics, though no especial tune is attached. I don't get much smell, though slightly flowery and a bit sweet; and it is delicate to the touch and perhaps slightly cool. By this, I am showing that Synesthesia is a widening of one's senses. Though there is always a main sense being activated, all one's other senses are capable of being stimulated on a more subtle level.
For the Bard, as these perceptions of one's senses becomes more of one's daily life, Life Itself becomes very rich and pleasurable. What is more, as one gains a great love of living, one also gains spiritually. Why? Because, activating Synesthesia shifts one's neurological system (the very 'crux' or 'mystery' of the focus for many Initiations) thereby opening the gates for alternate awareness. Therefore, the senses truly 'can' make us more spiritual. Why desire it? Because it is a Great joy and an intense spiritual pleasure. The wonderful truth is that becoming a Bard and opening one's spiritual awareness and the key to alternate awareness IS pleasure. Being a Bard is pleasurable.
Sometimes the exercises seem difficult to students because there is a need to accept one's physical self, to joy in it, to become very sensual and sensitive. To, in effect, become an instrument. It is also ripe with taboo and misconception for our culture teaches the denial of the senses as the means to spirituality. That is a myth often denying spiritual access as much as it denies our Divinely given senses. The Bardic Path is heavily tantric but it is also a mistake to then assume that this means simply 'sex magick' or that I speak of sexual pleasure, per se. I speak of the pleasure of the 'entire' body and spirit, not the specific orgasm of particular physical organs. What happens is the stimulation of the neurological system that becomes more and more active as the exercises are pursued. The music meditation given early on to students in this Tradition both stimulates this critical point and releases a stream of endorphins; the Kundalini Serpent in Her gentler aspect for the process is slow and delicate. It is much akin to yoga in that one only stretches as the muscles allow.
The exercises are actually stark and easy, but often force us to become honest with ourselves. However, these exercises were also designed to be a slow, triumphant build. Do the exercises (exercises, this means that they are really designed to do over and over), but be easy. There are no right answers to anything and personal answers are meant to be pursued as these 'muscles' are stretched. These exercises are also meant to be approached as if one is a child; to have fun, to play, to enjoy. A Bard's approach is to be creative and s/he must look to the inner child first; for indeed, our spirits are still children. And how better to call that child forward than through play? I love to do the exercises with students because, in all honesty, they're fun, full of discovery and wonder.
The bi-product of doing the exercises in a group as opposed to Solitary, though one may do them as such, is the development of a keen awareness of our differences. Not only through the exercises themselves by giving forward what we taste, smell, etc. of each other's being; but, by becoming aware that each of us has different mind/sense development. It is in especial to note what sense in the student is the strongest, then the secondary and how that gets applied overall and how that creates the students' worldview and their experience of the World. I had one student realize that as she heard a word, she saw the letters of that word and that much of her perception of life was in shapes, especially pervading 'how' she heard things, often automatically giving sound 'shapes'. It is quite possible that some people may find that 'touch' pervades their other senses and is either the secondary, or quite possibly, their first strongest sense. My primary sense is both sound and sight and I know that I am known to even confuse the experience. We tend to assume that sight is primary with sound probably being secondary, but as the exercises quickly reveal, this is not always the case. The exercises can give a fascinating glimpse into the workings of another person's mind through a communal setting that stretches and deepens our own minds. I think it also breaks barriers and suddenly we feel less lonely because we are offered a chance to actually perceive existence as someone else perceives it. It is very enriching, very exciting because, quite frankly, it gets inside of each other's minds in a dynamic way.
By doing these exercises and expanding oneself, one becomes more creative and spiritual in a very natural way. One also becomes more psychic as well as it allows one to perceive energies that pervade all around us. It tends to make one's creative endeavors more spiritual and thereby touches others with the same. In the end, a Bard also brings others inside their spiritual space, to heal and shift others to a more spiritual level. It is a sort of soul retrieval in a very real sense and is another reason I see Bards as Shamans. And in this Tradition it is the ultimate aim.
© 2007 Donna Lyon Rhose
If you wish to find out more about Donna Lyon Rhose's work and The Eldritch Tradition, you may visit her Web Site at:
http://www.EldritchTradition.com
Or email her at:
Rhosebard@yahoo.com
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