Join Charlie and Brian as they dive deep into the Druid craft concept of the Law of the Returning Tide, distinguishing it from commonly misunderstood spiritual principles like karma. They explore how our actions and intentions influence the energy that comes back to us, emphasizing the importance of mindful contributions to the universe. Learn about the balance of faith, action, and intention in shaping our realities and the limits of our influence over the unfolding tides of life. Discover practical exercises to experience the returning tide in daily life and understand the broader impacts of our energetic and material contributions.
Support us on: https://ko-fi.com/cedorsett
Become a patron of the arts patreon.com/cedorsett
For Educational Resource: Wisdoms Cry https://wisdomscry.com
For all of the things we are doing at The Seraphic Grove go to Creation's Paths https://www.creationspaths.com/
BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/creationspaths.com
Threads https://www.threads.net/@creationspaths
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/creationspaths/
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to the Law of the Returning Tide
01:05 Meet the Hosts: Charlie and Brian
01:23 Understanding the Returning Tide vs. Karma
02:22 Misconceptions and Cultural Appropriation
03:53 The Returning Tide Analogy
08:09 Magic, Prayer, and Influence
13:54 Practical Exercises for Compassionate Acts
15:00 The Ripple Effect of Joy
15:45 The Power of Returning Tide
16:15 The Illusion of Control
17:02 Surrounding Yourself with Positive Energy
18:45 Faith and Action: A Necessary Combination
21:46 Miracles and Effort
24:26 The Reality of Good and Bad Events
26:20 Conclusion and Call to Action
Transcript:
Charlie: [00:00:00] This is not an episode about karma. We're going to be talking about something that sounds a lot like karma. But karma is a Hindu idea. And we're talking about something from Druid craft. We're going to be talking about the law of the returning tide. And how it can help you. Understand. So much of what happens in your life. In a way that is vitally important. And easily misunderstood. While you're going to be tempted to go, oh, They're talking about karma. Please. Wipe your mind of anything that you've heard before. So that we can have a fresh. Valid discussion of this topic. So that you can actually find out how it can help you. Today, we're talking. About the law of the returning type.
Brian: [00:01:00] Insert intro here.
Charlie: Hello, my name is Charlie. I am a non-binary sci-fi fantasy writer. And I'm joined today by my husband, Brian.
Brian - New: I feel like Dr. Evil, there is a very insistent cat right now so I'm sitting here petting the kitty cat.
Charlie: Which is oddly appropriate for what we're going to be talking about today.
Today, we are going to be talking about the law of the returning tide. If you want to know more about this, I highly recommend Phillip Carr-Gomm's, wonderful book, Druid craft. Which is his attempt to bring back together the divergent paths of Wicca and Druidry that started together with two friends. Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols. And. Diverged. Very far away from each other. With some issues in between. And he's trying to bring them back together in a way that I find oddly compelling.
I am not a duotheist and the book [00:02:00] does have a lot of duotheistic ideas in it, but that is kind of core to traditional Wicca. Beyond that I highly recommend the book I really like it a lot. This language. Of the law of the returning tide. I find very, very helpful. In understanding what is probably one of the most misunderstood spiritual principles out there. And this is phrased a lot of different ways.
Often it's shorthanded as karma. And it is not karma. Karma is a very complex idea that arises from both Hinduism and Buddhism. And that is not what we're talking about here. We're also not talking about dependent origination. That is , again, a very complex idea. That is found in Buddhism. We'll probably talk about that in a future episode at some point, but again, that's not what we're talking about here. Other shorthands that you might be familiar with for this?
You get what you give. Reaping the whirlwind. We have a lot of [00:03:00] phrases for this idea of what you put out into the world comes back to you.
On a basic level. Yes. I agree with this. asterisk.
Big asterisk. x so big. It's bigger than the phrase that came before it. Because this is a very misunderstood. Misappropriated.
CulturallY. appropriated. Idea. That if misunderstood does. Far more harm than good. Because this is how we justify bad things happen.
We've said, oh, you get what you get.
Brian - New: Yeah. Chickens coming home to roost.
Charlie: That is not the law of the returning type. That is not what we're talking about here. That is something that. I want us to learn to let go of. And let it drift away. On the tide and never come back.
So the analogy of the returning tide. Helps us. In that, yes. What you put out into the [00:04:00] universe, you will get back. If you put good out into the universe, Goodwill often come back to you. If you put bad out into the universe, bad will often come back to you. If you put up joy, you will reap joy. If you put out. Sorrow and misery sorrow and misery will come back.
Yes. All of that is technically true. The problem is. Everything we put out into the universe is like a message in a bottle. You put whatever this intention is, these actions are, they go into the bottle and we throw them out into the ocean and the waves carry them out. And Lord knows. And I mean that quite literally only God knows. Where they're going to come back to shore.
Brian (2): Well, it's like with the chickens coming home to roost analogy. First of all, if you don't put out chicken feed, they're not going to want to come back. If you don't have a chicken coop they're not going to want to come back. If there are no chickens they will not come home to roost. There are a lot of other factors involved.
Charlie: And also it's not necessarily your chickens that are [00:05:00] coming back.
Brian (2): Yeah. This could be your neighbor's chickens,
Charlie: we had a rooster for a long time in our yard. We never bought chickens. We have not had chickens, but it got out of one of our neighbor's yards. I don't know what neighbor had that rooster. I don't know where that rooster came from. But it lived in our garage. It. Went around our yard all the time.
It claimed our yard is its own. It was our. For all intents and purposes, people thought it was our rooster. We got comments from several of the neighbors about our rooster, doing things in there, their yards, not our rooster don't know where the rooster came from. But it showed up one day. And we had a rooster. We didn't have any other chickens, but we had a rooster.
This analogy of our actions being like a message in a bottle. And this idea of the returning tide. All of the energy that we put out into the cosmos, whether it's good, bad. Anything in between.
It goes out. But it [00:06:00] mixes. With all of the other energies out there. There is this spiritual and I use this word a lot. Solipsism solipsism is a stage of development that most people grow out of. And you, if you've ever been around children, You know, this phase, it's usually around two years old. Me me, me, me, me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.
Where a child is individuating for the first time. They're realizing, oh, I am a separate self. And all of a sudden. Everything is about me and everything is mine. And you see this in kids and most people grow out of it.
Brian - New: Which doesn't mean it's gone. Everybody has it to some degree still to this very day. We all have it at some level.
Charlie: When I talk about spiritual solipsism. This is there's this idea of, I will manifest good things in my life by only putting good things out and only good things will return to me. And if bad things come out that's because I didn't manifest [00:07:00] enough good things in my life.
Brian - New: Or one of my favorite examples is praying for my sports team to win. Therefore they should win, or I am not with God or God is not with me. Completely negating the fact that many other fans pray for their team to win and pray for your team to lose.
Charlie: Yeah.
Brian - New: Many people probably prayed over the winning and losing of that team in that particular event. That's the thing.
Charlie: So learning to understand the great cosmic ocean. That we are on the shore of really will help you to get a better sense. Of what we're talking about. Energetically. Magically. This is where I think a lot of people misunderstand magic. And. Yeah, some of that comes from , The movies that are out there, the video games, the. Stuff that's out there where a wizard cast, a spell and amazing things happen, or you cast a spell and it always occurs that way. Or what have you [00:08:00] write that? If I say these magic words in this proper way, and we move my hands just right with the right ingredients. I will have consistent. Results. As somebody who has practiced magic for most of my life, Magic works. Magic is real. But magic is a hedge on a bet. It is not guaranteeing the outcome of an event.
I know some people get really weird when I use the term magic and they just want me to talk about prayer and Providence. And it's all magic. I'm sorry. It's all. A prayer is a spell by another name, a spell as a prayer by another name. If we're not going to be honest. I don't know what the point of spirituality is. I can show you a prayer book and I can show you a grimoire. And if I don't tell you, which is which. You will be hard pressed to tell the difference between them until you get to like magic squares and sigils and stuff. Spells are prayers, incantations are prayers. The difference between an [00:09:00] incantation and an invocation is that we call them different things.
Don't get put off by the word magic. Magic is all around us. Magic. Permeates everything. Everything is run by magic. And magic is not.
Illogical. It is super rational. In other words, it's it is beyond our rational minds to understand. In that, how does quantum physics work? I'm not equating magic with quantum physics. A lot of people make that mistake. That is a mistake. Don't do that. I'm just saying. Quantum physics is kind of magic because it is order a rising from chaos. How does that work?
We have some math that shows us. How to predict. How it will most likely work, but again, how does order arise from chaos? I don't know that we will ever have a. Good rational. Understanding of that. But it does happen. Magic has the same thing. Whether it's a [00:10:00] psychological phenomenon where we get ourselves hyped up to the point where we're able to take actions that we normally wouldn't have, or we are actually affecting the energies of the cosmos to cause great things to happen to me, six of one, half a dozen of the other, I don't really. I have a great caring concern, whether or not. There is immense magical power flowing through the universe, or if it's a psychological trick that I can play on my brain. To help me achieve the things that I want to achieve. The point and purposes, is it working?
Brian: It's like with our favorite weather wizard. To find the divination, to determine what the weather will be in a few days. For an old. Druid, thousands of years ago to your weather person trying using divining, what the weather will be in a few days from all these predictive models, is basically the same. This is really similar arts and it's all magic. That's all probabilities.
Charlie: Our weather. Wizard is a local weatherman that we really like to watch grant date. Who. Will has often very [00:11:00] accurately pointed to a place on a map and said in a couple of days, there are going to be tornadoes right here. And so you need to be watching out. And be very, very mindful and right where his finger is on the map. Is where tornado at turn attic activity will happen. And his predictions are shockingly accurate and he will often predict before the national weather service. Like he has a very good gut instinct. Looking at. All of the probabilities where things will come out. And that is a part of this.
And that is part of what we're talking about here with this idea of the law of the returning tide. He's able to see these waves coming to shore. And he's able to predict where they're going to be. That's a lot of what we're trained to do in the work.
We have no control over whether or not there's going to be a storm surge. Whether there's going to be a high tide or low tide. The moon controls, whether there's a high tide or low tide. And also our productivity to the moon because. Depending [00:12:00] on where the moon is in its orbit. It's either closer to the earth or further away from the earth that determines a lot of how high and low the tides are. There are a lot of complex things outside of our control. That are involved in. How tights work if a high tide is coming and a storm is coming that high tide has the potential to be devastating. To the coast.
This is where the analogy of the returning tide. Helps us to understand the reality that we're living in and get out of this. Main character syndrome that a lot of us have in spirituality where I can manifest, I have the power. Like there's so much He-Man and the masters of the universe energy in all of these movements, right. Ah, I have the power.
Uh, no. No, you don't, you don't. None of us. Do we have influence? We have some power. We're not power less. It's back to [00:13:00] humility, which we've been talking about a lot on this podcast.
Brian - New: There is a space to be occupied. But know that understanding and knowing how much and what that is. It is very important.
Charlie: The returning tide is the tide that carries back in what was through what was put out. So this is where it's very important for us to be mindful of what we are putting out into the universe, because this is true. If you are always a grumpy Gus. Then people are going to start treating you as if you're the one who's always grumpy. You will. Reap what you sow. The phrase becomes very appropriate there. If you're always the somber sad one, if you're the one that's always joking and laughing. This is what people come to expect of you. So what you're putting out is what you will receive back. People will treat you in kind if you're always the silly one. People will find it harder to take you seriously when you are being serious, because they expect you to be silly.
Brian - New: I'm gonna have to start calling these Brian's exercise opportunities or something. I love little exercises that everybody can do in their daily [00:14:00] lives. It's wonderful moments to, to test things. I'm very big fan of prove all things and hold onto that, which is true. I came across this actually more through, compassionate practices. The. Act of giving. , gratitude and giving compassionate acts in acknowledgement that they will return in their own time and place in manner without an expectation of any specific reward. Through this exercise. One thing you could do is pick a day, when you have to go shopping and do a bunch of tours in town, when you're in it in public interacting with a lot of people. Set your intention. And remind yourself constantly throughout that day, you are going to be giving compassionate acts at every opportunity. Without expectation of reward, but with realizing through faith, that they will manifest in their own time and manner. Do this throughout the day and just observe, just watch, take the opportunities to watch what happens . A lot of times, it's just that simple. Thank you. Or that simple smile. Or in a joyful moment celebrated between two individuals yourself and the person.
Charlie: An honest, sincere non-creepy compliment
Brian - New: I couldn't tell you the number of times. I would pass a compassionate act to somebody in the store. Checking out, picking up some groceries or something and then watch them later on, pass it to the person checking them out [00:15:00] at the register. Latter for me to go through the register and them to smile back at me. And be like, this is that law of returning tide. I gave out joy. While I was picking stuff out of the aisle, that person then had joy.
Adding more joy that they pass to the person checking out. The person checking out. Gave that to more multiple people while checking out, which probably rippled even beyond there. 'because they probably pass joy along the others . It's absolutely fascinating.
Charlie: It really is. And it's something. That we can see, we can demonstrate through like what Brian is talking about here. We should be testing all things and holding to that, which is true. Also always bearing in mind. You are not the only one putting energy intention. And actions out into the world. This, I keep saying this, and I'm going to sound like a broken record throughout this episode. But. This is why the re the idea of the returning tide is so powerful because it reminds us. We're getting back on our shore on a little [00:16:00] bit of shoreline. All of that. That has been put out. All of that coming back. In big ways in little ways. But it's all coming back.
You may not have. Put. Poisons into the water. But if somebody put poisons into the water, That water will come back into the tide and can make you sick. And I think this is where. Especially in spiritual practice, people run into error. And into danger.
They start thinking that they can somehow put a Brita water filter on their shoreline. That will keep all of the bad things that other people are putting out in the water. From coming ashore. On their patch of beach. I would love to say that that's true. I would love to say that we can do that. And we kind of can't. I cannot. You can not. Now notice the. The language there because that's, what's very [00:17:00] important. T Put out those filters. When you surround yourself by people that are putting those positive energies out. That are putting out that those. Ambitions those intentions, those actions for change. For blessing for good things in the environment and in the world. You're more likely to. Get back in the returning tide.
This is why it's important to surround yourself with people that are putting out that energy that you want to get back. ' cause it's hedging your bets. If you're all pouring freshwater. Clean water. Out. And there's a sewer. Pipe. Down stream. You're more likely to get the freshwater. If everyone around you is pouring fresh water in. It's going to push. That dirty water a little bit further out. So maybe it'll sloosh by. But that dirty water is still out there.
You may get a filtered version of that dirty water, but that dirty water is still going to splash back on this. [00:18:00] We can hedge our bets and making sure that we're building good communities. Good friendships, strong families, strong relationships with people that are putting out those good energies, those good intentions, those good actions and notice. This Trinity that I keep putting together because it is the energy that we are putting out. Which involves our intention. Our will. Our actual. Effort we're putting into the thing? Our intentions, which is both our mindset and our motivation for doing things. If you're just doing something good to get something back. That we can set the intention. And also our actions, our actions.
I need to say this. Like a thousand times. I get so frustrated with the manifestation movement, because they're like, I'm going to manifest a job. So I'm going to say a little words. I'm maybe gonna write a little blessing card. I'm going to put it on my alter and it will just bring a new job to [00:19:00] know if you're not putting in job applications.
If drop applications, aren't going out on the exiting tide. Jobs are not going to come in on the returning tide.
Because action is required.
As I quote the apostle James said, faith without works is dead. You have to take action. It's one thing to believe. It's one thing to hope and pray and try to manifest something right. It's the thing. I think people get raw wrong with the idea of can faith heal you? Yes. Faith can heal you, but also go to your doctor. Get the best treatments that you can. Because together. Healing is much more likely. When we're reading stories about first century healers and Jesus was a first century healer. He was. One of many first century healers. We're reading the best that they had for medicine. Let's put a little honey on this. Let's put a little olive oil on this. This was the best medicine they had at the time. It's not that olive oil is magic and we just need to go back to [00:20:00] the old ways.
Sometimes we do need to go back to the old ways because they knew something that we didn't. Right. Why was beer considered health healthy for a lot of people? Because of the microbiome that was within it. Why is kombucha so considered healthy and was given to people? Why was this certain soups and teas and tinctures?
We're now learning scientifically. That, whether it's the chemistry of it, whether it's the minerals and vitamins that are in it, whether it's the microbiome that it fosters, that's in it. Yeah, a lot of these treatments did have a blessing and brought good healing to a person. We've also progressed and we have vaccines and we have various other medicines that can bring healing. So when you're putting all of your pot, just in faith, okay. But there are three things that we should be putting out. Faith is only one of them.
Brian - New: I think about, the Centurion who wanted to heal his servant. And Jesus said, it's your faith that healed him. The thing was there [00:21:00] was also works and everyone forgets. This interior. If you had already had faith. Then it certainly would have been healed without Jesus saying anything without him even having to go to Jesus . He did the work of going over and talking to. Worked his way through a crowd and approached Jesus and said, Hey. this dude's sick and needs help.
Charlie: Probably learned that the. Local language because there's a very good. The odds that Jesus spoke quite a Greek or Latin. Are slim to none. Jesus probably spoke Galileo in Aramaic.
Brian - New: At its basic level, there was still work. because he didn't just sit in the room and go. Magically my servent, this healing, like there was work along with it. Part of faith is the works. You had to physically go and talk to Jesus . .
Charlie: This is not us saying miracles don't happen. Yeah, my, my grandfather had broken his spine. They told him he would never walk again. I went to the Basilica of St. Jude in, Baltimore and lit a candle for him and my [00:22:00] grandfather got up and went to the bathroom because he needed to pee. And they all went. You're walking. That's not my faith that cured him. Maybe it was St. Jude. I've put a lot of benefit of the doubt in St. Jude. For this cause St. Jude has worked a lot of miracles in my life and the lives of people that I know. If grandpa hadn't tried to get up. Oh, grandpa Jake. Hadn't tried to get up. Then he wouldn't have walked. what cured him? Was it faith?
Was it him not being as injured as the doctors originally thought. Was. W they misinterpreting , the x-rays and the other scans that they did on him. I don't know. He couldn't feel his feet.
He had no sensation from the waist down. They were pretty sure. He was paralyzed. And he just just got up, went to the bathroom. That's a miracle. I bring that up miracles do happen.
But you never want to rely on a miracle.
We could often. Help miracles happen. By taking action. And putting things out. Into that [00:23:00] water. Into that ocean. So that we can reap that tide that we want.
We need to learn in our own environment. If we don't want the red tide coming in. Maybe we shouldn't be putting those fertilizers and other things out into the water. There are things that we can do that will affect what we bring back on that tide. Concrete actions, material, physical actions we can take. There are. Subtle intentional actions we can take.
And there are just energetic efforts that we can take. And that's energetic efforts as in. Both like magical, woo-hoo putting energy out into the world, but also the effort that we put into a thing. Into taking the physical actions. They can bring back the good into our lives. And if we're not doing all three. To the best of our ability. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying everybody has the same ability. I have a lot of physical ailments and issues. That make it not easy for me to just get up and walk and get up and do things. And what have you, [00:24:00] I understand that. But if you don't try. If you're not putting, in what effort you can. Put it. And don't let anybody else tell you what you are capable of doing. Because people don't always know.
But if you've got to put in that effort, you have to put in that energy and you have to put in that action. And that's how you bring back those blessings on the returning tide.
And sometimes that returning tide. Brings. What washes up a dead whale.
Sometimes something bad washes in on that tide, the red tide comes in. There's an algal bloom.
I think if you're, especially if you're living in the United States and elsewhere around the world, we've seen that red tide coming in. that algalbloom. That's just poisoning the water. And putting fumes out near rotating our eyes. That is not because you're a bad person.
If bad things only happen to bad people. The world would be a very different place. And this is where again, to go to the teachings of Jesus.
Did the tower, when the tower of Salem fell, did the [00:25:00] rocks only hit the wicked.
Jesus asked this question because the great green tower collapsed. And killed a bunch of people.
When the tower asylum collapsed. Did it only kill the wicked? No.
God causes rain to fall. On the, just, and the unjust.
Good things happen to. Bad people, bad things happen to good people. And to try to simplify all of this down to if you're a good person, good things will happen to you. Is a lie. Straight from the mouth of the devil. That is put out into the world. So that person can take advantage of you.
I don't think I can say it any clearer than that. Good things happen to bad people. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. All we can do is hedge our bets. We can do what we can to put. Good things out into the ocean. So that good things come back and the returning time.
Beyond that. It's out of our control.
It is so far [00:26:00] out of our control.
That's why I love this analogy so much. It helps us to have that humility. To put things in their proper place. Of what we can control. And what we can't control. Sometimes. We want to take. Far more credit than we deserve.
Or blame. But that's a whole other topic.
I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I hope that you have learned something about the law of the returning tide. About karma about whatever you have grown up calling this. I really like. Phillip Carr-Gomm's. Law of the returning tide. I love that phrase.
If you have learned something and you think somebody else might get something out of this, please share. This episode. If you're listening to us by email for the email on to somebody else, if you're listening to us on Spotify or. YouTube or wherever, and they have a like button like us. If you're listening to us on a podcast app that lets you leave a review, like apple podcasts. [00:27:00] Those reviews are extremely helpful.
And those ratings are extremely helpful in getting this podcast to more people.
Please leave a rating, leave a review. They're far more helpful than you think they are.
It helps the machine know. That, Hey, this is something of quality that maybe I should spread to other people.
While you're doing all that. If you have a few pennies that you can cast our way. If you head over to https://www.creationspaths.com/, you can join there. We'd love to have you there. We'd love to hear your comments. Have you be part of the community? You can also support us over on patreon.com/cedorsett and https://ko-fi.com/cedorsett.
I'm CE Dorset on both. And that goes to support everything I do from the stories to the music. To these podcasts and everything else.
Brian - New: That's where you can leave a tip or donate. Yup. Whatever you like using the best.
Charlie: So, thank you so, so much for being here. And until next time. I made the blessings of the light ever shine upon you. Amen.
Brian: [00:28:00] Amen.
Share this post