2010 is the year I will finally complete ADF's Dedicant Program. I will be loosely following the Wheel of the Year program written by Rev. Michael Dangler,
available on ADF's Members' section of their website (login required).
Each week I will journal my "homework" assignments for the Wheel of the Year program. I will also use this blog to journal other things relevant to my Path, such as a meditation journal, the evolution of my home shrine, divination results, and so on.
This week's prompts and answers follow! Because of overlap in answers, I'm answering them all at once.
- Why have you chosen to take the first steps on the Dedicant Path?
- Is this a step on your path, or will this become the Path itself?
- What do you expect to learn?
- What would you like to get out of this journey?
- Do you know where this path will take you?
- If you have just joined ADF, why have you chosen to work on this immediately?
- If you have been in ADF for a long time, why are you starting only now?
- Does it look hard or easy?
- Which requirements appear to be difficult to you now, and which appear to be easy?
- Do you have doubts, questions, or concerns that you need to ask about?
Piety has always been a challenging virtue for me. I have had a tendency to let mundane life distract me from my spirituality, but I want to live a fuller spiritual life. After many years of studying religion academically, I have grown distant from my spiritual life and want to change that. I expect the DP to be a foundation for a lifelong path. Following the Wheel of the Year will help me integrate religious practice into my life as a regular routine that won't fall to the wayside. The DP will help me to prioritize my Druidry in my life. My academic studies have been a part of my delay in completing the DP since joining ADF in 2004. When I was already enrolled in classes, the DP always seemed like extra work and time that "should" have been spent on the courses I was paying for and trying to get a degree out of, so it was always pushed aside. Now that I have left academia for the working world, I look forward to the DP with pleasure at the thought of bringing study back into my life. The DP is not, at its base, a difficult program. The real challenge is what I will make of the program -- to go beyond the basic requirements, to deepen my relationship with my patroness, and to enrich my spiritual life.
