Why White Rabbits? Well, it’s a traditional greeting to offer people on the first day of the month, especially the months of late spring and early summer.
Why? Well, it’s supposed to bring good luck.
Why? Er, I don’t know, but it’s been a thing in my life since early childhood, so:
White Rabbits!
Speaking of White Rabbits, my son, daughter and I watched Matrix Resurrections for the first time last night. What a great movie. Its hugely talented director, Lana Wachowski, has said that a large part of her reason for returning to the world of the Matrix 20 years after the last part of the original trilogy was released is that she had lost both her parents the previous year and wanted to spend time with people she had known and loved for a long time. For her, this meant reassembling the cast and crew of the original trilogy, many of whom did indeed come back for this fourth installment. For me too it was a joy to spend more time with the characters, particularly the central pairing of Neo, a.k.a. Thomas Anderson, played by Keanu Reeves, and Trinity, played by Carrie-Ann Moss. Both turn in superb performances. Despite being twenty years older than last time round, both still performed a lot of their own stunts and martial arts moves. Yes, with a bit of not-so-gentle prompting, Neo still knows Kung-fu. I’m not going to give any spoilers, just urge you to see the movie. It’s exciting, moving, funny, existentialist, surreal, a love story, an action movie, a sci-fi film, and most of all just really, really good.
The blu-ray extras are good too, hearing from the director, cast and crew about how the film was put together. A major revelation is that Lana Wachowski’s film-making technique has changed completely since the earlier films. Previously she and her sister, Lilly, planned every shot meticulously in advance. This time, Lana started each day with the script, cast, crew and set or location in place, but mostly with absolutely no advance planning of how the necessary shots were to be achieved. This gave the director, cast and crew a lot of creative freedom and boy does it pay off!
Why this might be of interest to Druids is that a central theme of the Matrix is that it is within our power to choose to change the nature of ourselves and the reality we inhabit, both as individuals and by working together for common goals. Lana Wachowski (right) herself is a living example of this, having been born biologically male and transitioning quite late in life into the warm, funny and marvellously creative woman she is today. That we have the power, both as individuals and collectively, to change ourselves and our world is also a key concept of modern Druidry, at least the way we do it in the BDO.
Of course, we all change in many ways, some major, some minor, as we go through our lives. Some transitions are abrupt and startling, others a long time coming.
A major example of the former in my life came with meeting a Wolf during a particularly powerful ceremony on a Druid camp in 1994. The decision to take part in that ceremony was my equivalent of Neo choosing to take the red pill. That crucial encounter changed and greatly enhanced my understanding of, and spiritual relationship with, the world and everything in it. It also, incidentally, led to my adopting the craft name, Greywolf. Many of my colleagues have undergone similar life-changing and life-enhancing experiences through Druidry. Part of the idea in forming and maintaining the BDO has always been to encourage and enable others to undergo such transformative experiences and then to work in conjunction with other groups and individuals to create a collective force to drive positive change in our world. The gods know we need it now more than ever!
Like Neo in the first Matrix film, the process begins with finding the courage to “follow the White Rabbit.”
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