What Do Druids Believe? (What Do We Believe?)

Philip Carr-Gomm lives in Sussex, with his wife Stepha nie and their children . A psycho lhera pist and the founder of the Lewes Mo ntessori school, he began the srudy and practice of D ruidism over thirty years ago, and for the last fifleen years has written, lectured, and held wo rksho ps and retreats on th is spirilllal lraditi on all over the wo rld. H e is autho r of Druid Mysteries, The Druid ~y, and Druidcrafi, co-aulho r of 7,Je Druid Animal Oracle and 71Je DruidCrafi Tarot, and edito r of 7,Je lJook of Dmidry, 71Je Rebirth of Druidry. and In the Grove ofthe Druids. For more info rmation sec www.philipcarrgolllm.d ruid ry.org.

SERIES ED ITOR: TONY MORRIS Available now

What Do BuddhistsBeliwe? To ny Mo rris What Do Christians Belieue? Malcolm G uire What Do Muslims Believe? Z iaudd in Sarda r

·What Do DRUIDS Believe?

Published in Autumn 2006

What DoAstrologers Believe? Nicholas Camp ion What Do Greens Believe? Joseph Smi th What Do Existentialists Believe? Richard App ignanesi What Dojews Believe? Edward Kessler

Philip Carr-Gomm

Forthcoming

What Do Hindus Believe? Rachel Dwy er What Do Pagans Believe? Gra ham H arvey What Do Zionists Believe? C olin Shindler

Granta Books L ondo n

Granra Publications, 2/3 Han over Yard, Nod Road , Londo n N 1 SBE First pu blished in G reat Britain by C ranm Books 2006 Co pyright © 2006, Philip Carr-C om m 'M ind Games' writ ten by Jo hn Lennon © 1973 Ll'llO /l O Music, used with perm ission Philip C.1rr-G ornm has asserted his mo ral right und er rhe Copyright, Designs and Parent s Ace, 1988, to be identified as the aut ho r of this work .

All rights reserved . No reprodu ction, copy or transmi ssions of this public ation may be made wit hout writ ten permission. No paragrap h of th is publication may be reprod uced , copied or trnnsmitrcd Solve with writt en permi ssion or in accorda nce with the provisions of th e Copy right Act 1956 (as am end ed). Any person wh o do es any un authoriu·J act in relat ion [ 0 [his public arion may be liable to crim inal p ro secu tion and civil claims for damages. A C lp catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN- IO: 1-86207-864 -5 ISBN - 13: 978- 1-862 07-864 -2 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 (, " 2

" Yl'n r l hy M Rule,\ "rillln i ;Ilul hc ltlllli ill C'IC;lI Britain by ll"lI~ Ill ,II ' l l h" l.nl, Croydon, Surrey

Th is book is dedi cated to the Mount Haemus Scholars that growing band ofdedicated souls who are determined to research, articulate and understand D ruidry:

Contents

Acknowledgements

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

D ruids in the Twenry-First Century - Who Follows D ruidism Today? How Did We Get He re? T he O rigins of Mo dern Dru idism T he Root s of a Tradition Significant D ruids - Key Figures from the Past Wh at Do Dr uids Believe? Mysticism, Shamanism and Magic Eth ics and Values W hat Do Dr uids Do? Stor ies and Lore Learning D ruidry T he Practical Value of Following Dru idism Dr uidry in the Puru re

Notes Glossary Further reading Resources and Contacts Index

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9 16 25 35 49 57 66 78 83 89 94 102 105 108 I II

113

Acknowledgements

A m axim in creat ivity tr ain ing is that you shou ld ask ve ry sim ple, appa ren tly obv ious qu esti ons to generate new insights and to deepen your un d erstand ing of a subject. I am very grateful to th e series editor, Ton y M orri s, fo r inviting me to write th is book, and for askin g me to st ruc tu re it aro und a series o f very d irect, sim ple qu estions. T his help ed me to think abou t a famil iar subjec t wit h wh at is kn own in Z en Buddhism as ' Begin ner's M ind ', wh ich made the experience ofwritin g th is book refreshin g and illuminatin g. I would also like to thank Pamel a M eekingsStewa rt for provid ing the pe rfect retreat env ironment in New Zealand for working on th e book, Ronald Hulton , John M ichael Greer. Barbara Erskine. Sarah Fuh ro and the many friends and members of the O rde r of Bards, O vares and Druids who helped with their co m ments, encouragement and suggestio ns.

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1 Druids in the Twent y- First Centu ry Who Follows Drui dism Today?

What is Druidry?A Spiritual Path, a way of life, a philosophy, Druidry is all of these .. . Druidry today is alive and well, and has migrated around the world forming a wonderful web of

people who honour and respect the Earth .. . Cairistiona Won hington, Druids - A Beginner's Guide A road protester who has cha ined hi mself to a tree to prevent ir being to rn down to bu ild a mo torway and the late Q ueen Mother en tert ain ing guests at Cla rence Hou se m ight seem to have no thi ng in co m mo n. Rut an unusual thread con nects them _ as it connects characters as diverse as W inston C hurchill and an expert forger, or the Arch bishop of Canterbury and an advocate of free love and po litical revo lut ion who ensu red th at cremat ion was legalized in Britain. T his thread is D ruid ism. Today probably abo ut a q uart er of a millio n peop le aro und the wo rld are insp ired by D ru id ideas, but st ill the sto ry of D ru idism and of how it has evolved is little kn own outs ide its own community. Wh at exactly is a D ruid? H ow do you become o ne, and what

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3

DRUI DS IN TH E T W EN T Y· FIR ST CENT URY

DR UID S I N TH E TW ENTY· FIR ST CE NT URY

docs a practising Dru id do ? Is Druidism a religion , a cult, a NewAge fad? Is it based on fact or fantasy? Are those who follow Druidi sm as a spiritual way espousing a kind of pseudo -religion based on romant ic noti on s of ou r past, or arc they are actually on to something: practising a type of spirituality that is rooted in ancient heritage yet particularly suited to rod ay's world? Althou gh I practise D ruid ry, I have tried to brin g to thi s exploration as much objectivity and scepticism as I can muster. T his has been possible, perh aps, because I dislike orga nized religion and rigid belief systems. The right to change one's opinions feels paramo unt , yet often religion s seem to deny thi s, and as a result are sometimes capable of generating extraord inary int olerance, even cruelty. Alth ou gh many of us fed a spiritual hunger, the challenge is surely to find a way to satisfy th is hunger that frees us rath er th an traps us in do gma. D ruidism, or Druidry as it is often called, is remarkably free of dogma and is in many ways a very young movement , even though it bases itself on very old found ation s. Some believe the term 'Druid' comes from the Celtic word for oak - dru - combined with the Indo-European root wid - to know - making the D ruid a 'knower of the oak', in other words a 'forest sage'. O thers believe the word comes from the pre-Ind o-European roots deru; meanin g 'strong', and ueid; meanin g 'to sc..c', making a D ruid a 'strong seer'. outcmpo rary D ruid ry d raws on a heritage of thousands of years, alld yel Illany of its ideas and practices have only been for III'" I over I he last few hundred years. Unlike 1110st of the ,·sl.,hli,I,,·d Il'ligioll." which arc based on doctrin e formu lated in Ii", d i" ,'111 I',''' , Ilrui d ry is develop ing its philosophy and pracl i \ (· \ i l l 1C\I Il I I I \ l' II) the spirit of the times. It is being shaped now 1,11 111'1 111,11 1 hl'illg preserved or simply passed on, and parad" . i, ,oily, ,dlilCl uf', h il i, inspired and informed by an ancient 1"'11' ''''''', " " '"I1" i, illl',1 y free of the weight of th e past. T his

leaves modern Druidry o pen to the criticism that it has been invented; but it also makes it a thoroughly contempo rary spiritual ity th at speaks directly to the needs of tod ay.

2

Who Follows Druidism Tod ay? Twice a year, at the time of the solstices, the largest Druid group, the Order of Bards, O vares and D ruids, holds a big gathering in G lastonbury Ceremonies are held on the Tor and at Stoneh enge. There arc talks and presentations, people cat, dan ce, sing and play music rogether.The rwo hundred or so participant s include old and youn g people, men, wom en and child ren, some flamboyantly dr essed, some in conventional cloth es. You'd expect to see some beh ind a desk at an office, oth ers at a pop festival. They come mainly from Britain and Ireland , but there arc also people from Amer ica, Australia and all over Europe. Druidism as a spiritual path app eals to all kinds of peopl e, all over the world , becau se it d irectl y co ncern s itself with th e three most pr essing problems o f o ur age: th e destruction of the environment, th e alienation of the indi vidu al, and the commercialization and mass production of culture. If you ask peop le why they are attra cted to Druidism they will almost invariably offer as a first answer th e fact th at they love the natural world, and that th ey depl ore the way in which they sec it being exploited and damaged. T hey arc looking for a spiritua lity th at honours and works within Na ture, rather th an separately from it. They feel that modern living has separated us from the natural world and along with thi s sense of bein g separated from Mother Eart h comes another sense of alienation: a feeling th at we lead increasingly separate lives as political and economic pressures turn us from being citizens living in a com munity to being indi vidu al consumers.

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DRUIDS IN TH E TWE NTY ·F IRS T CENT URY

As we lose touch with o u r se nse o f living within a co mmunity. and within the n atural world. we arc becoming increasingly isolated from our sou rces o f sp iritual suste na nce. We may benefit mat eriall y from technology a nd globalizatio n. but we will most likely exist in relationship to a series of boxes: w akin g up in a box . leaving it in a metal on e to enter ano ther made of glass and co ncrete. in whi ch we will often sta re into the lirrle box of our co mp ute r before returning hom e in o ur metal box to relax in front o f a television. Peopl e draw n to Druidry want to break out of these boxes to feel th e land close to th em a nd 10 feci part of a com m un ity o f people with sim ilar valu es and ideals. They arc trying to undo th e aliena tio n o f modern life by seeking th eir o rigins. both ances tral and sp iritual. by explor ing th e past o f th eir fam ilies and th eir cu lture, and by drawing o n th e insp iratio n o f a tradi tion wh ose root s travel deep . Every spiritual tradition was born witlrin a parti cu lar culture. For Druidry thi s was Western Euro pe: m ainl and Britain . if we are to bel ieve Caesar. Bur th en . like seeds cast to th e wind. tra• diri o ns travel to di stant lands to inspire peopl e from o ther cu ltu res, Th is has happen ed with Druidry, as it has with m ost religions and spiritual path s. so th e facr th at yo u call yourself C h ristian or Buddhist. for example. bears no rela tionsh ip 10 your eth n ic. geog rap h ical o r cu ltu ral background. Sim ilarly man y peopl e following Druidry have no C eltic ancestry. wh ile o the rs who d o. o fte n find in their D ru id ry a way of sensing a clo ser co nnec tion with their heritage.

The Appeal of Myth and St ory

As well as bein g d rawn to D ru id ry by a love of nature. or by want ing to get in to uch with wh at th ey sense as their ancestr al

DRUID S IN TH E T W EN T Y- FIR ST CE NTURY

5

spirituality. many people are attracted to it because of their love o f myth and sto rytelling. Ju st as modern soc iety has separa ted us from the natural world. so it has also te nded to separate us from m eaningful a rt a nd sto ry, Alon g with th e movement tow ards individualistic co nsumerism has co me th e production of cu lture for th e mass mark er. So me writers have seen in thi s pro cess the attempt to create a 'M cWor ld ' in wh ich everyt hing is seen through a H ollywood lens. whi ch bleeds it of substa nce and me aning. Thankfully not everyo ne wants to live in M cWorld . and th ere is a real thirst fo r art. films. stories and books whi ch co nvey richer meanings and whi ch arc profound rather than superficial. Druidry responds to this thi rst by working with the power of sto ries a nd arche ty pa l sy mbo ls. It exp lores o ld m yths and legends. whi ch may have o rigina ted in th e teaching tales o f the a nci ent D ruids - to ld by th e Bard s of o ld. and transcribed in later times by C h ristian clerics. T hese tales reson ate for man y peop le. evo king ideas. images and feelin gs whi ch help th em feel closer to th e realities o flife. So me peopl e relate 10 D ru id ry sim ply as an interest. whi ch th ey pursue like a hobby. T hey love th e old tales. th ey like to visit ancient sites and to study history. O thers might be.mem ber s of Wel sh . Co rn ish or Breton gro u ps who a tte nd ceremo nies at the cultu ral events kn own as Eisteddjoda», wh ich promote rhe arts. and enjoy th e soc ial. histori cal and cu ltura l aspects o f th eir activity. O thers may be members of D ru id fratern al o r so roral orga nizatio ns that arc rather like M asonic

gro u ps. O r they may sim ply be investors in D ruid Friend ly Societies. wh ich have evo lved o ut of these o rgan i,"'tions 10 offer insurance sc hemes and health -care plans. In add itio n th ere arc those who follow D ruidry as a specifically spiritual way. ThL}' might call rhemsclvcs D ruids more or less from

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DR U ID S IN TH E T WE NT Y-F IR ST CE NT URY

the start , or they might on ly do this wh en they have reached a specific level of rraining. Accu rate figures for t he number of peop le interested in Dr uidism in its various manifestations do not exist, but there is enough info rmation ro make an estimate. T ho usands arrend the televised events in which th e D ruids of Wales appear each year at rhe Welsh National Eisteddfod, and hundreds attend sim ilar events held in Corn wall and Britta ny, while frate rna l D ru id ism attracts about 11,000 people worl dwide. ' In 1996 a leading acade m ic estimated that th ere we re rou ghl y 6,000 peop le pract ising D ruidry as a spiritual way in Britain, 2 and a major study in 200 1 in the USA estimated the figu re th ere ar

33,000.3 If we include rhe ot her count ries of the world, th is figure of 39 ,000 in Britain and th e USA could be increased to a total of perha ps 45-5 0,000 peop le worldwid e. Around such a gro up of peop le, who could be called" Pracrising D ruids', there is a much wider circle of those who are interested in rhe ideas of Druidry, and who incorporare some of these into their ow n person al brand of spiritual practice. O nly a min ority of th e peop le who arc inspired by D ruid ry actually join a D ru id ord er or group. T he major ity, for reasons of tim e or inclination, arc mor e likely to sim ply read books on th e subject, informally celebrate the old festival tim es, and feel inspired by D ruid lore. Abou t 100,000 peop le in Britain4 and around 426 ,000 peop le in th e USA5 regard themselves as Pagan. While not all th ese peop le will conside r th emselves inspired by Druid ism , a good man y will, and it is quite likely that the wider circle of influence beyond the ded icated followers of D ruidism co uld well exceed a quarter of a million people worldwide. Many of those d rawn to D ruidry co nsider themselves Pagan. T hey ofte n actively d islike co nvent ional religion, usually

DR U ID S IN T HE TW ENT Y- FI RST CE NT URY

7

C hristianity, because of its doctr ines or its historical record of into lerance and cruelty, and prefer instead the lack of dogm a and the focus on th e world of nature that Paganism offers. But there are others wh o find that studying D ruidism helps th em deepen their faith in ano ther religion . T he novelist Barb ara Erskine writes of her experience: When I was a child I set up an altar in woodland at the bott om

or the garden. On it I put a little gold cross wedged into a lump o f plasticine. Now, many years later, I realise this was a

first express ion o f leanings towards what I now recognise as

druidic Christianity, or Christian Druidism. I came from a Church of England family Jll(i went ro a school which worshipped daily in the chapel. Faith foundered however when I studied history at university. I encountered for the first time Christianity's downside: it had been roo much mediated by politics, cruelty, misogyny and fundamentalism, c.ui ug little forJesus's teachings of tolerance and love; it seemed III enco urage exploitation of the natural world and it used the heavy hand of guilt rather than love ro corral its followers. Like lI};llly o thers I questioned and fell away. When I discovered D ruidry it was a homecom ing into a

philosophy which encompassed all that I held dear and it hiough t me into the Western spiritual tradition , something which had been part of my soul without my realising it. My world was animistic. I had always prayed ro the O ne God and ,I ll dl l' gods, feeling that that expressed my true beliefs even I hotll!,h I was not comfortable with wholesale paganism. T he 1,1.'1 1 thing I expected was fo r my studies and meditations to 1I111111 illC and rekindle my struggling C hristian faith. Or that du-y would reconcile my certainties about a supernatural world III u.u urc spirits, ghosts and energies which seemed to be

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DRUIDS IN T HE TWE NTY -F I RST CEN TURY

unchristian, into a church which included angelsand archangels

and all the company of heaven.6 D ruidism tou ches hearts and souls in different ways and it appea ls to many peop le now because of its lack of exclusivity and uniformity. T here are disagreements within rhe world of D ruidry, as within any co mmun ity, and there is no one universally accep ted understand ing of D ru id ism. but this has enco uraged a diversity with in the landscape of mod ern D ruidry that is ferti le and even exotic. How did it get to be this way? W here and whe n did Druidry begin?

2 How Did We Get Here? The Origins of Modern Druidism

Any study of the druids must begin with a process of demysrification . . .

Jean Marble. The Druids- Celtic Priests ofNature Druidism is roored in th e cultu re and mythology of Wesrern Europe - in particular in those cultures which have come to be know n as C eltic. which stre tch fro m Ireland and parts of Port ugal in the west to France. Switzerland and Austr ia in the cast. We first hear of it in the writings of Ju lius Caesar. who in abo ut 50 BeE wro te that D ru idism originated in Britain'? But some say th at it originated elsewhere and much earlier, in Egypt or Indi a," wh ile mystics such as D ia n Fort une and Rudo lf Steiner point, with clairvoyant rath er than historical evidence, to the even more mysteriou s land of Atlantis. Wh ethet D ruidry's roots are ind eed so exotic, or whether the histo rical understa nd ing that D ru id ism evolved in th e British Isles abour 2.5 00 years ago is co rrect, the current revival of interest in D ruidism depends not so much upon th e ancient past as upon very recen t histor y.

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HOW D ID WE GET H ER E?

H OW DIO WE GET HE RE?

Mod ern D ruidi sm , as ir is pr actised by most Druids roday, eme rged our of two acts of rebellio n that occurred virtually sim ultaneo usly o n both sides of th e Atlanri c during th at fertil e and rumultuous period of rhe 1960s. In 1963 o n the Carleto n Co llege ca mp us in th e USA a g ro up called rhe Reformed D ru ids of No rt h Am erica was created as a humorou s protest against mandato ry Sunday morning chapel attenda nce , whil e rhe following year in England a histor ian , Ross N ichols, rebelled against the e1ecrion of a new D ru id C hief, and established his own group, rhe O rder of Bards, O vares and Druids. Alth ough both th e RONA and rhe O BOD were initially sma ll gro ups, th ey exerted an influ ence over the co ming years whi ch resul ted in Druid ism finally eme rging in the last decade of the twenti eth cent ury as a viable alterna tive ro the more wellkno wn and established spiritual pa ths. Prior to the mid -I 96 0s almost all D ru id act ivity over the previou s few hund red years had been co nfined to th e cultural efforrs of th e Welsh D ruids and the fraterna l act ivities of the English Druids? - neither of whi ch treated D ru idry as a spiritua l path in its own right. An exceptio n co uld be found, however, in on e type of D ru id ism that did focus on spiritua l pr actice - even th ou gh ir attracted only a han dfu l of followers. At the dawn of the rwcnrierh cent ury a dynami c and vocal ind ivid ual, Geo rge Watson M acGregor Reid, began promoting D ru id ism as a spiritual path th ar co uld unite followers of many faiths; the group that he led, the Univ ersal Bond, becam e a vehicle for conveying many of the ideas that had been expressed by groups such as th e T heoso phical Sociery and the Orde r of th e Golde n Dawn in th e pr eviou s cenr ury. T hro ugh th e Universal Bond a co mplex tap est ry began to be woven, whi ch dr ew on rhe inspiration of th e anc ient D ruids, the wo rk of the Revival Druids of the previous rhree cenr uries, the reach ings of

I he

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wo rld religions, and the Western Myste ry Trad ition. The group held ceremonies at Sto nehenge, cam paigned for social just ice, and pr omoted the Universalist C h urch, which later becam e in corporated int o th e Unitar ian C h urch. In the 1940s and '50s the Universal Bond, which had grad uoily evo lved into bein g called the Anc ienr D ru id O rde r, attracted ro it two figure s who wou ld act as catalysts for the explosion of interest in Paganism that is occurring today: Gera ld Card ner and Ross Nic ho ls. Ga rdner becam e the sem inal figur e ill the promorion of the religion ofWicca, or Pagan witch craft, while N icho ls developed D ru id ism by focusing its conce rns on C eltic and Brit ish lor e and m ythology.l '' N icho ls and many W iccans were inspired by a boo k whic h has i~flu en ced mu ch of the modern Pagan movem ent - Robert Graves' The White Goddess, wh ich claim ed ro have discovered a D ru id ic calendar based o n rh e trees and plan ts associated with 'Ogham', an .ilphaber of twen ty-five strokes centred o r branching off a single line tha t can be found inscrib ed o n sto nes in Ireland dated ro I he fifth and sixt h cenr ur ies. Bot h Ni ch ols and Ga rd ner ca me 10 ado pt an eighrfold cycle of ob servan ces whi ch now lies at the hear t of both D ru id and Wi ccan practices. In this cycle the o bservance of t he solst ices and eq uinoxes is co mbined with I he celebration of the four tradition al cross-qua rter days aro und I he first of February, May, August and Novem ber (sec C ha pter H f(lt mo re details). Gard ner di ed in 196 4 and so did the chief of the Ancient I )mid O rder - M acGregor Reid's so n, Rob ert . A new chief was elected, but Nichols decided he wanted ro wo rk with D ruidism ill a differen t way, and formed his own order, which has since I\IOw n to become the largest D ru id gro up in th e world . While hi, gro u p was formed o ut of a serio us de sire ro deep en D ruidi sm as a sp iritual prac tice, the Reformed D ru ids of North

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H OW 01 0 WE GET H ER E?

H OW DID WE GET H E RE?

America were founded a year earlier partly as a prank to avoid church services, and partl y as a protest against compulsory attendance. Th e initiative proved creative: since students who claimed they were Dru ids were obliged to hold alternative rites, they found them selves becoming seriously interested in new ways of worship - and Dru idism. The writings and activities of the RONA inspired the creation of the largest Druid group in America today, the ADF (A Druid Fellowship), out of which other groups have emerged to develop and enrich conte mporary Druidism.

and mysterious heritage, and although A View overAtlantis was not directly about Druidism, Michell succeeded in educating the counter-culture in the power of this spiritual heritage that , just like the similar traditi on of H induism at the other end of the Indo-European arc, seemed to speak directly to their spiritual needs. Despite the popularity of Michell's book and a growing interest in the pre-Christian heritage of Britain and Ireland, with its sacred sites, and the mysterious lines of energy that were said to connect them , the practice of Druidry as a spiritual way was still confined to a handfu l of peop le: those members of the Ancient Druid O rder founded by MacG regor Reid, and tho se of the O rder of Bards, O vates and Druids founded by Ross Nichols. It wasn't until the I98 0s that this handfu l began to grow into the thousands of Druids who exist today. As the popularity of alternative approaches to healing and spirituality, loosely termed ' New Age', grew during the decade or so after the appearance of A View over Atlantis, there developed a thirst for Celtic spirituality, stimulated to a great extent hy two prolific writers: Ca itlin and John Matthews. From the mid-eighti es they began to mine, articulate and popu larize the treasure trove of spiritual wisdom found in the old Welsh and Irish manu scripts, which, unti l then, had only been studied by academics. Druidism was often the subject of their researches, and th eir work pro vided mu ch of the source material for num erous writers on Celtic mytho logy, the G rail, D ruid ry and Paganism, and succeeded in fuelling a widespread interest in Celtic spirituality in Brirain and the United States. By the eight ies the time was ripe for a growth in the popu l.iriry of Druidism. T he New Age was in full swing, thc Church, ,l ll d mon otheist ic religion s in genera l, were seen by many peop le as increasingly part of the problem rath er than part of

By 1969 D ruids were starting to feature in the burgeoning counter-cu lture. John Lennon consciously or intuitivel y knew that Peace and Love, the corne rstones of co unter-cultural idealism, were deeply connected with Druidi sm, and so he sang about th is in his 'Mi nd Games': We're playing those mind games togethe r,

Pushing the barriers. planting seeds. Playing the mind guerrilla, Chanting the Mantra, 'Peace o n Earth'.

We all been playing those mind games forever Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil. Doing the mind guerrilla. Sume call it magic, the search for the grail, In the same year that this song was released, a book about Stonehenge and the 'Icy lines' which seemed to connect ancient sites across the British landscape appeared, which rapidl y became a cult classic. A View over Atlantis by John Michell appealed to the baby-boom generatio n who were living throu gh the era of 'Flower Power' and had becom e att racted to Eastern religions. M ichell's book introduced the m to their own exotic

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HOW DI D W E GET H ERE?

HOW DI D WE GET H ERE?

the solutio n to th e world's ills, and in add ition there was now an in tense awareness of th e enviro n mental disaster th at threatened th e plan et. Even th ough Druidry had no pra ctitioners who had inh erit ed th eir tr aditions in an unbroken line from their a ncesto rs. and even th ough it was no longer tau ght o r practi sed in a tribal co nt ext, it still represented to m an y th e indi gen ou s preC h ristia n sp iritual an d m agical heritage of th e f.1r west o f Eu rope - a territory tha t included Brittan y. Ireland and th e British Isles. O nce more . sim ulta neo usly o n both sides of th e Atlantic. D ruid ry too k a leap forward in its development. In 1984 Isaac Bon ewits founded th e D ruid gro up, AD F and I was asked to develop a co urse of reaching in D ru id ry. Bon ewirs, th e first Am erican student to co mplete a univ ersity degree in Ma gic. five times marri ed and an enthusiasti c advoc it e o f po lyarnory, had been a member of th e R ONA a nd co mb ined th ei r id eas with hi. ow n researches to o ffer a D ru idi sm that was di stin ctl y religious - with a polytheisti c th eology and a n em phasis o n th e importance o f scho larsh ip and th e d evelopmen t ofl itu rgy. I had kno w n and stu d ied with Ross N icho ls, had trained in psychology and psych otherapy, and in 1988 was asked to lead th e O rder he had founded twenty-four yea rs previ ously. The O rd er published th e co urse that I had created with th e help o f a number o f writers. including Ross Ni ch ols and John and C aitlfn Matthews. Rath er th an presen tin g D ru id ry as a religio n, th e co urse o ffered a journey of sp iritual and psychological exploratio n inspired by Druidry, and based up on th e ph ilosoph y and th e idea s that had become associat ed with it. The co urse seemed to answer a need, and by the close of the millennium four th ousand peopl e aro u nd th e world were working with it. In th e USA tho usands had also become attracted to

D ruid ism through th e work of th e RO NA, AD F and o ther ~ ro u ps. and in do ing thi s had begun to practise D ru id ism as a spiritu al way. Soo n after th e twentieth century had opened, a handful o f peopl e had begun d oing thi s. Now. as the cent u ry closed , th ou sands were. Helped by two impulses of ren ewal .1IId cha nge. in th e 1960s a nd th e 19 80s. D ru id ism was now more popular than it ever had been. But it was not th e thoro llgh ly modem creatio n it ap peared to be at first sigh t. Its reb irth in recent tim es was entirely d ependent upon th e past .llId it devel oped out o f a period o f mor e than two ce ntu ries of whol arshi p and speculatio n.

14

THE ROOTS OF A T RAO ITION

3 The Roots of a Tradition

As we settle into this new century it is of viral impo rtance (hat we reconnect with o ur D ruidic roots.

Tom Cowan.

III

0/ 'A ncimt Shapes and Memories

In the late seventeen th ce nt u ry- a co m plex o f influen ces co nverged to tr igger an inten se interest in the Druids that heralded a period ofte n called the ' D ru id Revival' . th e most impo rt an t part of w hich occu rred duri ng the late eigh tee nt h an d early nineteenth ce nt ur ies, T he modern D ru id movem en t. wh ich start ed in th e ea rly twentiet h cent ur y and ga ine d momentum in th e I 960s. has grow n o ut o f th is Revival per iod in both senses of the term , havin g de veloped o ut o f it, a nd in react ion to it. T he D ru id Revival began as the influen ce o f t he En ligh ten me nt enco ur aged enq u iry and d im in ished the nccessiry to co n fo rm with C h urc h d octrines, As the classical texts describi ng anc ient D ru ids becam e more read ily ava ilable in tran slation thro ugh the develo p men t of printing. scho lars in Britain. France and Ge rma ny beca me fascinated with the G reek and Ro ma n accounts of the ir pre-Ch rist ian anc esto rs.

17

Two o f th e most sign ificant of these acco unt s. written by lul ius C aesar an d D iodorus Sicu lus, paint ed a picture of the I)euids as scholars and religio us lead ers wh o fun cti oned in a similar way to the pri estly caste o f the Hindu Brahmins: offici,' Iing at sac rifices. teachi ng philosophy a nd star lor e. and conveying an o ral tradi tion that required students to learn many verses by heart. D rui ds were exem p t from military service and rhc taxes raised to pay for it. T hey ad vised ch iefta ins and had a rcputario n for pacifyin g arm ies about to fight . T hey described a da rker side of D ruid ism. too . in whi ch I)ruids were presen t at the sacrifice of criminals, or so metimes lu noccnt people, wh o were burnt alive in wicker cages, or killed in the atte mp t to divine th e future from th eir death throes, We v.um o t be sur e th at any of th e classical autho rs were reco unting Ihe truth . but th e descr ip tion th ey have left us of wise sages ,.llm ing warring t ribes a nd teach ing in forest groves has tended 10 end ure over the image o f their presidin g over human sacriIk (:. Likew ise. medi eval Irish literature co ntains references to I huids as th e w isest a nd most learn ed people of th eir time, who acted as adviso rs to local po litical lead ers, and as wiza rds ~II H l l1l agi c i a ns .

1nspi red by rhesc posit ive im ages o f th e a ncient D ruids. " hola rs in the seve nteenth and eightee nth centuries saw them ,1\ 'noble savages' - an elite who were th e guard ians ofan indigc1101 " religion w h ich was th e pr ecu rsor o f C h rist ian ity. T his 1"" lT!,tio n was reinfor ced wirh reports of th e noble savages livilll; in Ame rica. who reminded Eu ro peans of the ir Paga n lult'hears. I, wasn't long before th e ancien t gua rd ians of the indi gen ou s 1l·ligioll became associated with the many mysterious m OIHt· IlIr ,n , wh ich sca tte red th e land. In th e I 66 0s th e versati le . , ho lar. John Aubrey, sugg ested th at th e megalithic rem ain s of

18

TH E ROOTS OF A T RADIT ION

TH E ROOTS OF A T RAOITION

Britain had been built by the Druids, and intrigued by this, a man who was to becom e one the fo undi ng fathers of th e mod ern science of archaeo logy, William Srukelcy, visited Sto nehenge in 1719. For the next five years he made annual visits to Wiltshire - carrying out a detailed study of bo th Sto nehenge and Avebury. In his book Stonehenge, a Temple Restored to the British Druids, he popul arized the noti on that the D ruids had buil t the most famous of sto ne circles, and that they were also responsible for the other megalithi c monuments so well distribured th roughour Britain . T he haunting presence of Stonehenge, and the classical texts describing th e D ru ids, were inspiring, bu t the texts also reported disappointingly t hat t he Druids co nveyed an or al teaching, leavin g eighteenth-century scho lars impotent to explore in any detail their phil osophy and practi ces. They combed both the classical sources and medieval Welsh and Irish literature for clear and extended sta tements of what the Druids had believed and taught , and found non e. Into thi s vacuum stepped an extraord inary character: Edward Williams, who lived from 1747 to 1826 and took on the name of lolo Morganwg. A stonemason and acco mplished poet who played a significant role in promoting Unitarianism in Wales, 1010 set about construct ing a body of lore that he th en passed ofT as authent ic ancient Druidism. His exten sive knowl edge of Welsh literar y tradition s, his theolo gical explorations, and perhaps his use of laud anum, help ed him to create a system that succeeded in providing mu ch of the inspiration for the writing on D ruid ism into the modern era. Woven into 1010'Swor k arc strands of inspiration drawn from his knowledge of Welsh folklore and literature, and his visits to man y of the old houses and libraries of Wales. It took nearly a hundred years for academics to prove that he had fabricated his

19

"""I" ial, and even

though no expert in Welsh literature now " I" lirvcs that 1010 drew on any pre-existin g tradition, an increasIIlt~ number arc co m ing to respect and celeb rate him as an ,,"~,i ll.,1 genius. H e is now seen both as a literary fraudster and as I " " i.rl reformer with a positive legacy that continues to this day. I he Eisteddfod movement on ly experienced a revival and I\" 'W become a major feature of Welsh cultu re on ce it had , oI o l' ll'l1 1010'S Druidic institution, whi ch he called 'T he I ,',' ,cdd'. He introduced the idea of the Go rsedd in 1792 , when I" Icd an Eisteddfod on London's Primrose H ill, and it was "I"I'Il'l1hy the Welsh Eisteddfod in 1819. The Eisteddfod , as a

'0

I

llllll ral phenom enon, has ge nuine roo ts in the ancient past of

01 u: I 'chs and D ruids, whereas the Go rsedd is 1010'S' invent ion. Its I" ,"orary members include the Archbishop of Ca nterbury and I he l.uc Q ueen Mother. Every schoo l in Wales now hold s an I" " ," al Eisteddfod, and the nation al event acts as a focus and "," l hlS to a bro ad ran ge of cultural and literary initi atives. II,,, c rhc Eistedd fod movement had adop ted th e ritu al and 'mti llllion of the Gorsedd, its influence extended to Brittany 1101 ( 'or nwall. In a tim e when their languages and cultu re had \,... nmc margin alized, 1010 Morganwg's Druidism resto red a I,dd,' in th eir herit age 10 the Bretons, Cornish and Welsh. [uvr over a decade before 1010's introduction of th e G orsedd III 17')2, a Druid organization had already been created , but it W ;I\ " distin ctly different phenomenon : its purposes were social 11111 fratern al rather th an cultu ral. The Ancient O rder of I '," i,k founded by a man nam ed Hurle in 1781 in a pub in 11IlIdon's Poland Street , was formed 10 provid e mutual suppo rt Ill ' rucmbcrs - modelling itself along th e lines of Freemaso nry. " olll'red social gath erin gs, and a rype of ceremo nial similar to . tI"",. of fraterna l societies, where a Bible was placed on th e I" n-tn at each meetin g, and discussion of religion prohibited.

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T HE ROOT S OF A T RADITI ON

T HE ROOT S OF A TRADITIO N

Most lodges were open only to males, though some ' Ladies' Lodges' were opened . T hese lod ges prol iferat ed rhro ug ho ut Englan d , a nd th en abroad in most corners o f th e British Em pi re and in parts of Eu ro pe. In 190 8 th e you ng W insto n C h u rch ill was initiated into th e O rde r, and by 19 33 th e Order had over a milli on and a half m embers. 11 T he lodges produced eng raved cert ificates, rings and even po rcelain tea sets, whi ch are so m etim e') discovered in a ntiq ue sho ps o r arc un earthed as ancestral heirl oo ms, with fam ilies rem embering th at 'G randdad was a Druid '. But eve n tho ug h the D ru id was used as a sym bo l of th e wise phil osoph er, most members of the Ancien t O rde r of D ruid s, like m ost membe rs of the G o rscd d , co ns idered th em selves C hristian, and th e O rder's main purposes were charitable and soc ial. O ver the years a number of sch isms oc curred, resu lting in different gro u ps form ing , so m e of wh ich becam e Friend ly Soc ieties th at offcred mem bers savings schemes and insura nce po licies. T he D ru ids Friend ly Society in Aust ralia flourishes to thi s d ay and has an impressive website (www.dr u id s.co rn.au). Some of th ese gro ups arc affiliated to th e ' Inte rnatio nal G rand Lod ge of D ru id ism' (www.igld.o rg) wh ich holds co ngresses and unites groups ill over a dozen counrries.P Some Freem asons also for med fraterna l D ru id gro ups d uring the nineteen th century, the most famo us being the Ancient and Archaeo logical O rde r of Dru ids, formed in 1874 to study th e co n nectio ns betw een Freemason ry and th e D ru id tr adi tion. In the days befor e the int rodu ction of th e Nat ional H ealth Service, and befo re ad equate insuran ce cover, a t ragedy of illn ess or bereavem en t often resulted in fam ilies falling into pove rty. T he fraternal movem ent gave finan cial aid to members' fam ilies who were struck by illness o r loss, and their dev elo pme nt in so me

21

"~ I'" ililo Friendly Societies w as a natural ou tcom e o f this hllil 11011,

"" ""ug h fratern al Druidry ado pted so me of 1010'S material, only beco mes problem at ic wh en we co nsid er th e dill .! ' YI ,e of D ru id movement, whi ch relate s to Druidry not as III 1I 1l' l' ira tio l1 for cultural o r fraternal activities, but as a sp iri,,,,, I I" " " in its ow n right. T h is movem ent, sta rt ing in th e early , ..,,,ti" lh centu ry, also d rew up on 1010'S w ritings - in parti cuI... hi, ' D rui d 's Praye r' , h is G o rsed d ritual, and som e of h is

'01. kg.lcy

IllU llll l u~y.

THE GO RS ED D/DRU I D'S PRAYER

Grant, 0 God, Thy protection; And in protection, strength; And in strength, understanding; And in understanding, knowl edge; And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice; And in the knowledge of ju stice, the love of it; And in that love, the love of a/l existences, And in the love of a/l existences, the love of God, and a/l goodness. 10 Mo rganwg claimed that this prayer was composed by lhaearn, the first W elsh poet known to history. Morg anwg wrote several different drafts of it, of which this was the

emu generally adopted after his death.

\ 'uh ural D ru ids, such as th e Archb isho p of Cant erbury, have 1"" ".1 lilli e prob lem in reciting 1010'S D ru id's Prayer whi le I'.ul iciparing in a ritu al that uses some or all of h is marcrial. P

22

Many spiritual D ru ids also use 1010'S prayer, though they often address it to the 'Goddess' o r 'G ods' or 'Spirit' rather than 'God', dependin g upon their beliefs abo ut the nature of Deity, and they will often usc clemen ts of his ritual to open their own meetings. But no t everyo ne is happy wit h th is usc of 1010'S material. In Britain and France, much of D ru id ry as a spiritual pat h has evolved as a result of 1010's influence, and many groups continue ro usc at least so me of his material. whi le recog nizing its his-

tory - justifYing its usc o n rhe pragm atic ground s rhat ir has been in usc lo r two hu nd red years and has, in thi s sense, becom e tradirional. But in the USA the tend ency has been to reject 1010'S work ent irely, altho ugh several D ruid groups there norably the Ancient aider of Dru ids in America - consider 1010'S creatio ns an im po rtant part of the modern D ruid tradi tion and lise them as such. 1010 fa bricarcd a body of lo re in an attempt to fulfil a desire amongst his co ntempo raries to learn abo ut the philosophy and ideals of the ancient D ru ids. T he classical authors had writte n eno ugh abour these figures to inspire read ers, bur had failed to offer more th an a brief glimpse int o the ir world. T he era of D ru id ry tha t they desc ribed lasred abo ut a rhou sand years - fro m per haps 40 0 BCE to 600 CEo Bur by rhe sixth centu ry all of Euro pe was C hristian, and overt Pagan practice had all bur ceased to exist. 1010 and his contempo raries were separated by over a th ou sand years fro m th e worl d of th e ancient D ruids . He attem pted to span thi s gap in time with his imaginatio n. and perhaps wi th sc raps of ge n uine lore . but

ironi cally, as 101 0 set abo ut his task, a movem ent was just begin ni ng which wo uld in the end fulfil th e yearn ing for a se nse of what ge nuine D ruid lore m igh t have been in a mu ch m ore satisfying way.

C rad ually, from the mid -n ineteenth cent ury o nwa rds, schol-

I..J.J-ltil l I

TH E ROOT S OF A TRAOITION

T HE ROOTS OF A TRAOITION

23

01 ' Ioq \an to study folklore and

the re was a revival of inte rest in literat ure, ini tiating a period kn own as 'The C elt ic Iwd'I\Io [', which was st im ulated to a great exrent hy wrirers 01,10 .'" W. B. Yeats, George Russell an d Fiona Macleo d. T he ,10.. ' I'lilles of Ant hropology, Folklore Stu dies, Archaeo logy and 1I,,, ,,[y all hegan to rake an inte rest in the pre-C hristia n pasr. , , Ill, Stud ies were bo rn as an acade mic d iscipline and C eltic 11I~' d ll ll()gy and literature bega n to be researched in ear ncs r. !" \ ,Ol lie of the ma terial being un earthed and discussed in aca.I .lIlh ,I lid literary circles was eagerly studied in the twentieth " 111101 Y hy th e new d isciplin es of archetypal psychology and ,01\,,10 01 studies, hut sur prisingly, it too k unril thc 1960s for the

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llId

m ovem ent

[0

take no tice of these develo pm en ts.

, uluu .il Dr uids really needed on ly the po mp and ceremo ny of 1,,1,,', I huidism to provide an impressive sett ing for thei r I h, ... lolf',dau. Fraternal Dru ids were never seriously engaged in II ', I .rn II int o Druidism. since their purpose lay in social and h.uua hlc wor k, and rhe spiritual D ruids had evolved suc h a .", Iylllt\ hod y of teachings thar few of the m looked elsewhere Ill' c· ll li l~l lIc n m c n t.

I, " ,,," ired a new im pulse for spiritual Druidry ro srart tak ing

," 1",.1101 , ill any q uant ity, material which would free ir of the IIW",I of hei ng an inve nted trad itio n based upon a literary

I,.,"d . Whell Ross N ichols bro ke with the Ancien t D ruid O rde r '" 1"'"111 [he O rder of Bards, O vates and Dr uids, he priori tized 01 01 1''''' cxs of focusing on histo rical and C eltic material. I tllf~,III W~'S contributions played a diminishing role in this new II, 1111 It" " , unt il by the beginning of the rwen ry-first century it . _ I UlIl illl'll lO the usc of his D ruid's Prayer, and a few clements I ," 11.,1 .11 III lore. In the USA no such break with the recent past 11,.,.01...1. and modern D ruidry there began the process of '01 111.11 illg much of the latest findings in acade mic research.

24

TH E ROOT S OF A T RADITION

After two cent ut ies of an ambivalent histor y, Druidism has finally emerged over th e last forty years to offer a spiritual way that gen uinely draws on an ancien t heritage for inspiratio n, while makin g no claim to be identi cal to the D ruidism that was practised two tho usand years ago.

4 Significant Druids I<ey Figures from the Past

II1I

Although the D ruids have left no certain, visible monuments of

tI...;, religion, they appear to have left enduring memorials in dH- minds of men.

F. E. Halliday, A History of Cornwall ~ l tI , o ll f\h mod ern Druidry as a spiritual practi ce has only .. dyrd recently, it draws on a heritage that stretches far back in 111111' , .uid we can read a number o f accounts o f prominent 1IIIIids from the anc ient past which have profoundly influ", ,..1 our perceptio n of D ruid ism tod ay. Just as accounts of ul y C hr istian saints, T ibetan lamas, or Indian gu rus blend I" I .11 ,,1 legend , so toO with these figutes we cannot be sure whr 'r histori cal accu racy gives way to mythi c vision . N,.y('l ' heless the sto ries of their lives can inspi re followers of Illlljdi~ ll1.

llu-rc is a co mmo n misconception that the ancient Druids w, n- .1 male priesthood . T h is almos t certa inly isn't co rrect . I , ", .tlc Druids (bandrui ) are menti oned in th e old Irish texts,

,,,1 ir was said th at th e famo us figure of Irish legend Fionn

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MacCumhaill (Fin n MacC ool) was raised by a fem ale D ruid , while king Concho bar's mother was a Druid called Nessa.

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Ga ine daughter of pure Gumor Nurse of mead-loving Mide, Surpassed all women though s he was s ilent; She was learned and a seer and a Druid. The Metrical Dindsenchas, Ireland

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' When she had finished spea king to her people, she "'I,loyt'd a spec ies of divination , lettin g a hare escape from the I , ,101 "I her d ress; and since it ran o n what th ey conside red th e I l '!j ll l m us side, the who le multi tude sho uted w ith pleasure. ",I 1I"."licea, raising her hand towa rd heaven , said, "I than k II" " Audras rc [goddess of battl e and victo ry] . .. I supplicate ""oIl'LIY thee for victory," II" , ill rhe end Boud icca was defeated by the Roman s, and

1.,, 11,., ilmn su ffer at their hands she co m mitted suicide by II"II,,"~ from a poisoned chalice.

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S IGNIFICANT DRUIDS

S IG NIFICAN T DRU IDS

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T he classical autho rs also mention D ruidesses, D io C assius w rites of one named Ca nna who went on an embassy to Rome and was received by Dornirian, so n of Em peror Vespasian. Pomponius Mela mentions nin e virgin priestesses, wh o seem ( 0 be D ruids, who lived on the island of Sella, in Britt any, and were able to predict the furure. Aclius Lampr id ius, wr iting in the fifth cent ury CE, men tion s a D ruidess foretelling th e defeat of Alexander Severus: 'G o fortll bur hope nor for victory,' she co unselled. 'no r put your trust in yo ur warri ors." ? The most famo us wo ma n to have espo used D ru id ry is perhaps Boudicca (somet imes known as Boadicca) wh o, as leader of the Iceni trib e, was almos t certa inly steeped in Dru id ism. In 6 0 CE she led a revolt against the Ro man s whi ch nearly succeeded in ou sting them from Britain . Because she wo uld not yield to the co m mand of the local Rom an governo r, she was flogged and her daught ers were raped. In fury she raised an army wh ich sacked the Roman tow ns of Lon do n, C olchester and St. Albans. T he cities were burnt to the ground and thou sands were killed . T he classica l writ er, D ia n, in an im agin ative acco unt,

described how she used a hare to d ivine the o utco me of her firsr

, '" Irnll - the Iris h Druid

,,, 01", " " 1St famo us epi c in Irish myt hol ogy, th e Tain IJo I " ,III/lgl', the C attle Raid of C oo ley, we learn of ano ther pow""I h-male D ru id , Fide lma . Q uee n Me d b of Con nachr is oI"'Ul '" engage her armies in hat tie with King C onchobar of III",.,. She co nsults Fidelma , wh o tells her that she has just ' 111l11lCd

fro m 'learning verse and vision in Albion'. Mcdb asks

I" I il , he possesses the Light of Foresight - in ot her words, lu-tI,,·, she can sec into the futu re. Pidelm a confirms that she .. ,,,d <'Cd a seer, and foretells defeat for Q ueen Medb . I I" , i, how Fidelma is described: 'She had yellow hair. She

speckled cloak fastened around herwith a gold pin, a red l'llIll1oi JcreJ hooded tunic and sandals with gold clasps. Her I II II W was broad. her jaw narrow, her two eyebrows pitch black. Wil l. delicate dark lashes casting shadows halfway down her I Iwc ·ks. You would think her lips were inset with Parthian scarI,"" li ef teeth were like an array of jewels between the lips. She WII Il' .1

h.lll hair in three tresses; two wo und upward o n her head and

.hr rhird hanging down her back, brushing her calves. She held

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SIGNIF ICANT DRUID S

SIGNIF ICANT DRUIDS

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a light gold weaving rod in her hand, wirh gold inlay. Her eyes had triple irises. 'two black horses drew her chariot, and she was

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, " " 101111-\ Pyth agor as the do ctrines of the Druids. This neatly 1,1 ,'1' " tI,e class ical aut hors' cla im s th at th e Druids tau ght oI"'I\'.Il·.lIIism: th ey were in f.,ct teaching ori ginal Druidi sm, 10,,10 till' Pyth agore an s had since ado pted . Although historian s 1111 • rcdc ncc to thi s claim, so me co m me ntato rs have reinI",., oIl his ho ld assert io n by noting th at so me of th e old sto ne 1I II I! tl Il W' IH S o f Britain arc built using Pythagorean geo me try , ! ,000 yea rs before Pythago ras, suggest ing a cu rren t o f "" wl" dgl' that co uld have passed fro m th e pre- and proto1'""01,, cu ltures o f th e Briti sh Isles to th e classical cultu re of

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Male Druids arc o fte n eq ually formidab le. They arc inevitab ly cited in the old Irish texts as po ssessi ng magical powe rs, and wh en we read accounts of them we arc propelled into a world remini scent of The Lord ofthe Rings. T he blind Mog R uit h, for instan ce, engages in a spec tac ular struggle agai nst the o p posing Dru ids of King C o rmac. He is blin d becau se he has lost one eye in th e Alps, and th e other by SlOp' pin g th e co urse of the su n for two d ays. He has a bird headd ress and a wheel with oars, wh ich he uses 10 fly through th e sky. H e hurls magic sto nes which turn into eels, and at one point takes slivers of wood from the spears of sold iers, mi xes these with butter, and th en hurls the resu lting ball into a fire wh ilst cha nt ing incantations for victory. Behind th e story we can discern the elemen ts o f m od ern Druid ic practi ce, In Druidism tod ay, th e foul' elements of Earth , Air, Fire and Water are powerful sym bols, and here the old D rui d works with the powers o f all four: Mog Ruirh is a master o f fire, kn ows how to use air with his magical 'druidic breath', he d ivin es with sam ples o f earth to choose land for himself, and is able to make wat er flow in times of d rou ght. T he G reek geograp he r, Srra bo, mentions a figure wh o lat er co mme nta tors h ave called a D ru id - a man named Abaris wh o , like M og Ru irh , co uld fly th rou gh th e sky. He is sa id to have visited Greece several times in aro u nd 770 Be E, rran sponcd by a golde n arrow, and to have healed the sick, fore told th e fu ture , a nd wor ked m iracles. So me have suggested that he sym bo lize" no t a person but an ancie nt med ical traditio n, while writers in th e Revival peri od believe tha t he mi ght have been respon sible

I

t l l l ' I I';,

II", Ro man writer, C icero, mentio ns th at he met a Gallic I >iviliacus o f the Aedui trib e. D ivitiacus claimed to be I, "",,·01 in th e ways of the natural world, and was ab le to make I'" ,I" till ns from o bserv ing th e flight of birds. C aes ar also "' It' uhout him , since he was an ally o f Rome, but neve r 111'"1'01 10 him as a Dmid. As always with early acco unts of 11111,,1\, we have fru stratingly little materi al about th ese en ig111,1111 lig ures. and yet details in many acco unts, such as C icero's, ,,,lIy wilh what we kn ow from other so u rces. T he C elts' divina""" by hird flight (ornitho rua ncy) was noted by Diodoru s, and ,I" 1'lSh texts speak o f the art of Neldoracht; o r cloud-wat ching III' I'"' rents. T he mov ement of birds, th e sky and th e wind do 1,,,1... ,.1 carry messages to ill - if not of sp irits, th en of distant , , nn,h , of changing weath er, and with wind s such as the M istral Itl h .IIl1.::C or Fon in Switzerland even toda y. o f alteration s in 1''' " nil" whic h lead to cha ng ing moods and the increased risk of

1',.11.1.

.1, l 'It'\ \ iol1 and suicide. In the accounts o f not ab le D ru ids from the more recent past ,. " ";lSic r to sepa rate fact from fancy, and in do ing th is appreI Illh' I heir humani ty as mu ch as any spec ific co ntributio n (0 I ',n"I, y they mi ght have mad e. T he cha racteristic th ey all sha re

II 'I'll I II III

I

i

!I I

30

S IGNIF ICANT DRUIDS

is on e of darin g TO be differen r. Each in th eir own way was eccen tric, a nd each has made an impact o n the way Druid ism is understood or p racti sed tod ay. As we saw in th e last chap ter. in th e mid -eighteenth cenr ury Wi lliam Srukeley's book Stonehenge, a Temple Restored to the British Dru ids captured rhc public's atte nt ion and stimu lated th e D ru id Revival whi ch had already begun in the previous

\I "I" Morga n became th e first writer to propose th at D ru idism

cent ury.

II II

I

II

31

SIGNIFICAN T DRUIDS

Sruke ley was fascinared by Pythagoreani sm , Neo-Plaronism a nd th e Egyp t ian M ysterie s. in ad d ition to D ruid ism. H is friends ca lled h im T he D ruid ' , and after he had met th e Princess of Wales, he wrot e to her as ' Veleda, Archdruidess of Kew'. H e created a D ruid tem ple in his garden - laying it out as a sacred land scape. with an ap ple tree covered with m istletoe at the cent re of conce nt ric circles o f hazels and everg reens. Beside an altar he built a rumulus, an d wh en his wife m iscarried they ritu ally buried th e foetus nn the ca mo m ile lawn th ey had planted in fronr of the altar. After an earlier miscarri age. a friend had written to Srukclcy urgin g him to 'assem ble the sacred college of druids' . Unfo rt u nately no furth er refe rences to th is mysteriou s gro u p have been found. ' ? The revival o f int erest in the D ru ids enco uraged by Sruke ley received a co m plex boost to its development when Barddas, a collection of 1010 Morganwg's wr itings. was published in J 86 2. In the J 890s , a co u rageo us Wel shman . Owen M o rgan, Archdr uid of a gro u p founded in the trad ition of Inlo Morganwg , issued Ught in Britannia, an extrao rd inary book whose five subtitles reveal how daring it was to publish such a wo rk in Victorian Eng land: The Mysteries of Ancient British Druidism Unvei led; The Original Source of Phallic Worship Revealed; The Secrets ofthe Court ofKing Arthur Revealed ; The Creed of the Stone Age Restored; The Holy Grail Discovered in

,. ,"u"theistic fertility religion , with o ne god co mprising all d ill W Il I~. and on e go ddess co ntai ning all ot he r go ddesses - a I lulI l~' which has co me to do min ate the mod ern Pagan revival

"" lund.uncnra] theo logy ofWicca, tho ug h not of conre mI''' ' " V I II uid ry, which emb races many theistic app roaches. 11"1,,,w,,,1 by th e prevailing cultura l climate. wh ich must I,."" h ' I .. ived his ideas frostily to say th e least . Morgan claimed ,I,. , 1,'\'" symbolize d the creat ive power of deity and was thus I'h 'llIil symbo l. Less co ntroversial was the suggestion that he lw ' Ylllho lizcd the reborn sun of the w in ter so lstice . Morgan

" I, I... ,,,u ld trace the underlyin g sexual symbolism in religions. I"" 1,,, li olll sub jecting th ese symbo ls to Freudian redu ctioni sm I" ,,,01, th e a p proach fam iliar TO alche mi sts, Tao ists and I .",,,i,,. an d saw sexuality as sacred. For him . Pagan natu re " ..IIII' was the true religion . and C h ristianity was onl y valid I" , " " " i. un knowingly preser ved the old fert ility mysteries. W,lI i.,m I'rice was anot her great Welsh eccentric and eq ually 111111. In

!'l'd by ot her peopl es' prejudi ces

or o pinio ns. Born in

"11'0 . l'ri ce experienced co nflict wi th au tho rity from an early I'.' I ii, Clther's naked walks.across th e Welsh hillsides attracted ,I" lit' Y the local ch u rches. and when Price himself sta rted ''''P.III',lIillg fo r wo rkers' righ ts he was obliged to flee TO Paris

or

years. He clearly had a sense of humour. wri ting a 01, ,",1, y,,1t letter to the British detectives who had been lookin g

1111 "I' VI'1I

I", lilli' ""

th e bo at to France. H e had disguised himself as a ,II ,d th ey had co ur teo usly help ed him o n board . WI"' II he retu rned to Wales he decided to call him self all " " 1,,1 ," id and practised as a healer. d rawing o n his med ical «ru .ru

" ,1111 111 1', i ll

London. H e was vege tarian. refused to treat patients

1111 lto lllokcd. and refused to wear socks on hygienic grounds. II , ,,,lvIII ,lted [rcc love, and at the age of eighty settled down with

32

33

SIG NIFICAN T DRUIDS

SIGNIF ICANT DRUIDS

a mu ch younger wom an. T hree years later their son was born . bu t died in infancy, Price insisted on cremating him him self. and was arrested and jailed for this. His case was heard at the Ca rdiff Assizes in 1884. where th e jud ge ruled that cremation was legal. as lon g as it was done without nuisance to others. In this way William Price, the Druid. became directly respon sible for cremation being legalized in Britain. with the first officially sanct ioned crema tion being held a year later. In 191 3 a flamboyant character appeared on the public stage when he objected to being made to pay to worship at Stonehenge. A ph oto graph of him co nfro nti ng a policeman by the turnstile to the monument appeared in th e New Lift journal. Geo rge Wat son Ma cGregor Reid had returned from America where, like William Price, he had been campaigning for workers' rights - thi s time in the New York do cks. It was probably in New York th at he became a minister of th e Universalist C hurch and discovered Naturopathy
wid. the distin ct ion of apparently being the only person who 10.,,1attempted election to both the Hou se of Representatives in " ", reica and the H ou ses of Parliam ent in Britain . MacGregor Reid's int erest in health was echoed by a later thi ef of the Ancient D ruid O rde r. Thomas M aughan , who wa' a remarkable healer, largely respo nsible, along with a colIe.,,,ue. John Da Monte, for initiating th e tra ining of lay 1"" 'llleo paths in England . Prior to their initiative only medical ,1", lorS could become practising hom oeopath s. ( Ince Mau ghan became chief, a number of fellow D ru ids .I,·,idcd to form a new group and in 1964 th e Orde r of Bards. I Ivates and Druids was founded . led by Ross Nichols - a man who was to become one of the most influ enti al figures in the II,odern Druid movem ent. Nichols read history ar Ca mbridge. " pulilished poet and journalist. at the age of thirty-eight he 1,,·\ .une th e own er and prin cipal of a private London college. whic-h he directed un til the end of his life. A ded icated naturist 0,,1 vegetarian, when fifty-two he join ed the Ancient Druid C lo ire. and studied with it unril becoming chief of his new I I,dn a decade later. Stimulated by Robert Gra ves' explora tion " I h.r rdic poetry in The Whit" Goddess, and by his ow n " .c.llehes int o Celtic and British mythol ogy, N icho ls began to ," ,, " late a D ruidry founded upon these sources of inspiration . I 11\ /look 01Druidry; published after his death in 1990 , helped d n' ( >rder he found ed become the largest Druid organization in

movement.

Later in his life MacGregor Reid started a Universalist and health retreat cent re in Sussex. dying at th e age of ninety-five

,I... world. l'hc achievements of a notable male figure in any movement «lun depend upon the less publi cized achievements and influ-

," ,' of a woman, and for Ross thi s was th e gifted writer Vera , h"I'",an. who help ed him to found th e O rder and who pro VI, lcd him wi th th e sort of peer support and int ellectual uur ulus that he needed . Born in 1898. she was one of th e first

34

S IGNIF ICANT DRUIDS

wo men to matr iculat e as a full member of Oxfo rd Uni versity. In her later years she achieved success as an author with a trilogy whi ch focused on the role of wom en in the Arrhuria n tales. Recognizing the impor tan ce of J. R. R. To lkien, she founded the Tolkien Society in 196 9. In lookin g hack at the notable D ruids of the last centuries we see a collection of ind ivid uals who share a co m mo n enthusiasm What Do Druids Believe? fo r exploring unco nventio nal ideas. We might th ink that a spiritu ality needs a lineage of pious 'h oly' men and wo men rath er th an rhe eccen trics and maveri cks just describ ed, but closer l examination of the key figu res in any spiritua l tradi tion show thar they, too, often rebelled against the status qu o and refused Above :111 else. DruiJry means following a spi ri tll a~ path rooted to confor m. They cha llenged convent ional morality and behavIII the green Earth . It mean s embra cing an ex pe rie ntia l iour, and proposed or invented new ways of being in the world . ,lpploach to religious question s, o ne that abandons rigid helief In the lineage of Dr uid ry we find not saint ly figures, bu t men _ y~ lt· ms in favour of inner development and individual contact and wo me n who broke the mou ld: who dared to be di fferent;I widl the realms of nature and spirit. while ad hering to slrong prin ciples. T hey were often politically John Michael Greer, 71J( Druidry Handbook active - with many key figures from the Revival period o nwards being interested in radical politics, sup porting ind ividual liberty and social justice. T hey were naturop arhs, vegetarians, naturis{~ III., M eaning and Purp ose o r healers, poets, historian s and phil osophers. T hey were· attracted to D ruidis m becau se th eir spirituality was founded in a passion for Na ture and histo ry, mythology and ancient mon- I Ille tO r the most str iking characteristics of Druid ism is the uments. And each - in their own way - can act as an inspiration oI,~,It'e 10 which it is free o r dogm a and any fixed set of beliefs III I'l .ll liccs. It honours the uniqueness of each individual's spirfor us if we, lOO, have such passions. 1I""IIll'Cds. In this way it manages to offer a spiritua l path, and I w,ly of heing in the wo rld that avoids many of the pro blems of 101I"lr l,lIlce and sectarianism th at the established religion s have III u n u rc rcd. T here is no 'sacred text' or the equivalent of a hlhl,. i ll Dru id ism . and th ere is no uni versally agreed set of 1,,1u-1\ amo ngst D ruids. Rath er tha n it heing founded upo n . l lll uinc, it urges followe rs (0 learn from their ow n experience

5

I 11'11 \\1

I II I1I

I

III \1 1

I

36

WHAT DO ORU IDS BELI EVE?

W HAT DD DRU IDS BELIEVE?

o f being in th e world. Despite th is lack of doctrine, th ere are a number o f ideas and beliefs that m ost D ru ids hold in co m mo n, and th at help to d efin e th e na ture of Druidism tod ay. Dru ids share a beli ef in the fund am en tally sp iritua l natu re of life. So me will favour a particul ar way of understanding th e so urce of this spiritua l nature, and may feel the mselves to be an im ists, pa n theists, pol yth eist s, m onotheists o r duotheists. O the rs wi ll avo id choosi ng anyo ne co nce pt io n o f Deity, believing th a t by its very nature thi s is un kn owabl e by th e mind. Monotheisti c D rui ds beli eve th ere is o ne Deity: eithe r a Goddess or God , or a Ilein g wh o is better nam ed Sp irit or G rea t Sp irit , to rem ove mi sleadin g associatio ns to ge n der. O ther D rui ds beli eve th at Dei ty exists as a pair o f for ces or bein gs, whi ch th ey oft en cha racte rize as the G od and G oddess . They a re duo th cisrs, an d th ei r bel ief is sha red by m an y Wi ccan s. , Polyth eistic D rui ds believe th at man y gods a nd goddesses exist, whil e pantheists, like an imists, believe that Dei ty docs not exist as one o r more person al go ds, but is instead present in all th ings, and is everything , T he term pantheist was co ined during th e D ruid Revival period by John To land, aut hor of The History ofthe Druids. A recen t informal Inre rner survey sugges ted that most D ru ids are pantheistic, with sma ller numbers favouring po lyt heistic, m on otheistic or du o rhcistic beliefs.

I follow a polytheistic form of Druidry, which means I expe rience many different deities rath er than a Lord and Lady. Part of honouring my Gods involves learning as much

37

,. pos sible about how the Iron Age tribes of Britain and troland lived - their dress , laws, c ustoms , religion etc. I m't do this because t want to live in s ome fanta sy 'aide worlde '. Rather because I feel there was much wisdom in Iho e thics and ideals of that time. It's about taking the best ,~I tho past and incorporating it with modern life. The Druids ill Iho past se rved their communities; being a Druid, for me, illI state me nt of soc ial commitment. Robin Herne, Ipswich

W hcthcr th ey have chosen to ad opt a particular viewpo int or tu u , I he greatest characteristic of most modern-day D ruids is rhr u to lera nce of d iversity: a D ru id ga thering ca n br ing '''firt her peopl e who have widel y varying views abo ut th e exist l I" (' O( non -existen ce of o ne or more gods, and they wi ll 1o "l'l'ily part icip at e in cere mo n ies toge ther, celeb rate th e sea"" ', and enjoy each o thers' co m pany. O ne of th e unwritten " Il l '\.' of Druidis m is that none of us has th e m on opoly o n u urh. and that d iversity is both health y and natu ral. N alll fC Iorms such an importan t focu s of their reverence, d' ,11 whatever beliefs th ey hold abo ut De ity, all D ru ids sense th e 11>11111 ,11 wo rld as d ivin e or sacred. Eve ry part of nature - moun1,11 11 .\ .

rivers, trees, flowers, sto nes and anima ls, (he wea the r and

d, e winds . the sun, moo n and sta rs - arc all sensed as part of th e uu web of life, with no one creature or aspec t of it bavin g nl', r lllacy ove r any ot he r. Un like religions th at are an thro1'111 ('I ll

ric. bel ievin g hu m ani ty occup ies a cen tral role in th e

, Io r nll' of life, th is co ncept ion is systemic and holistic, and sees lnuu.mki nd as just o ne part of th e wide r fam ily of life.

38

WH AT DO DRUI DS BE LI EV E?

Althou gh Druids love Nat ure , and draw inspirati o n and spirim alno urishment from it, they also believe that the world we see is not the o nly o ne th at exists. A co rne rsto ne o f Druid belief is in th e existe nce of th e Otherwo rld - a rea lm or realm s which exist beyond the reach of th e physical senses, but whi ch are never th eless real. T his O therworld is seen as th e place we travel to wh en we di e. But we can also visit it durin g o ur lifet ime in dreams, in m edi tation, under hypnosis, or in 'jo urneying' , when in a sharna n ic trance. D ifferem D rui ds will have di fferent views o n th e nature o f thi s O therwo rld, bur it is a u n iversally held belief for three reasons. First, all religions or sp iritual tradition s hold the view th at anothe r reali ty exists beyond th e physical world (whereas m aterialists hold tha t o nly m atter exists and is real) . Seco nd, Celtic myt hology, which inspires so much of D ru id ism , is replete with descriptions of thi s O therwo rld. Third, the existence of th e O therwo rld is im plicit in 'the grea tesr bel ief' of th e anc ient D ruids, as repo rted by th e d assical writers, who stated that th e D ru ids bel ieved in a p rocess th at has been describ ed as rein car nation o r metempsychosis (in w hich a soul lives in a successio n of forms, in cludi ng both hu m an and anim al). In bet ween each life in human o r an ima l fo rm the so ul rests in the O therworld .

M any Dru id s share t he view of th e C el ts reponed by l'h ilostrat us o f Tya na in th e seco nd cent ury CE th at to be born III thi s wo rld , we have to di e in the O the rwo rld, and co nversely, d' ,11 whe n we di e here, we are born into the O therwo rld . For dllS reasou, D ru id fun er als tr y to focus o n th e idea th at th e so ul lllt'x pcricncing a time of reb irth , Ahho ugh all Druids wo uld ag ree that physica l de at h does not 1' lI d O Uf existence , there is no set o f univ ersally recognized 1IIIIid teach ings th at offer details of how th e process o f reinI .u u .u ion o r me tempsycho sis works, o r wh at happen s to us whe n we travel to th e O therwo rld in the after-deat h state. Illdi vid ual D ru id teach ers m ay offer th eir ow n understandi ng of tI", pro cess, b ur gene rally th ose who arc cur ious need to stud y Ihe I.lI ge body of literature that deals with thi s subject, whi ch III. lud es th e d assic works of th e Ti betan and Egypt ia n Books of tI" , lead, the researches of Sp irit ualism . th e m o re recen t stud ,... ..I' ncar -death expe rie nces. a nd of hypnotically induced I It l' lorations of the betw een -lives state. HI A d ue to the purpose behind th e process of success ive ...Ioi ll h, can be fo und if we loo k at th e goa ls o f th e D ru id. 1IIII ids seek above all th e cult ivatio n of wisdo m , creativity and I. ,,,' . A number of lives o n ear th , rathe r th an jus t o ne , gives us tI", o ppo rru nity to de velop these q ua lities wit hin us. ' he goal of wi sd om is po rtrayed in tw o old tales - o ne th e

The Oth erworld

1,1

39

WHAT DO DRU I DS BE LIEV E?

Death and Rebirt h W h ile a C h ristian Druid m ay beli eve that th e so ul is o nly born o nce o n Ear th , m ost D ru ids ado pt th e beli ef o f th eir ancient fo rebears that the so ul undergoes a pro cess o f succ essive rein carn atio ns in human form , th ough so m e m ay beli eve that th e so ul ca n also reincarnate as an animal.

or

'"' y of Fio n n M acCumhaill (Fin n M acC oo l) fro m Irel and, d ,,' o the r the story of Ta liesin from W ales. In both stories wlSdCll n is so ug ht by a n older person - in Ireland in th e fo rm of d ", S.d mo n of Wisd om . in Wa les in the form of th ree d rops of ' oupi ratio n. In both stories a young helper ends up tasting the WISdo m so jealo usly so ug ht by th e ad ults. These tales, rather ,h"" sim ply teach ing th e virtues of innocen ce a nd helpfulness. ' " I I Cli ll instruc tio ns fo r achi eving wi sdo m encoded within their

Illi I

Ii

I11II1

II I

1II1III1 1

IIIII 11

1 ,1 1111;11111 1

41

WHAT DO DRUI DS BELI EVE?

WHAT DO DRUIDS BELIEVE ?

symbo lism and th e seq uence of event s th ey describe, and for this reaso n are o fte n used in the teach ing o f D rui d ry. T he goa l of crcativiry is also central to D ru id ism becau se the Bards have long been seen as participants in D ru id ry. Many believe th at in th e old days th ey tran smitted th e wisdom of th e D ru ids in so ng and story, and th at with th eir prodigious mem o ries th ey kn ew th e genea logies o f th e tribes an d th e tales associared with th e local landscape. C eltic cultures displ ay a love of art, music and be auty th at o fte n evo kes an aware ness o f the O the rwo rld , and th eir old Bardic tales depict a world ofsensua l beaut y in which crafts peo p le a nd a rti sts a re highly honoured . Today, man y peopl e arc drawn to D ru id ry becau se the y sense it is a sp iriruality th at ca n hel p th em d evelop their creat iviry. Rather th an stressing th e idea th at this ph ysical life is tem porary, and th at we should focus on the after-life, Druidism co nveys th e idea th at we are me anr to par ticipate fully in life on Ea rth , and th at we are meant ro express a nd share our creariviry as much as we can. Druidrys third aim is to foster love and to broaden our und erstanding and experience of it. so that we can love widely and deeply. Its reveren ce for N ature enco urages us to love the I;nd , the Earth , th e stars and the wild. It also encourages a love of peace: D ru ids were traditionally peacemakers, and still arc. O ften Druid ceremon ies begin by offe ring peace to each cardinal di rection, th ere is a D ru id's Peace Prayer, and D ru ids plant Peace G roves. T he Druid pat h also enco urages the love ofbcaury because it cultivates the Bard, th e Art ist W ith in and fosters crea tivity, The love of Ju stice is fostered in mod ern D ru idry by being me ntioned in ' T he Dru id 's Prayer' . M an y believe th at the anc ient D ru ids were jud ges an d law-m akers, who were more in terested in restorative than punitive justi ce. D ru id ry also enco urages th e love of sto ry a nd myth , and many peopl e tod ay

u r- dr awn to it becau se th ey recogni ze the power of sto rytelling, "" I sense its potenrial to heal and enligh ten as well as ente rta in. I lru idism also recognize s th e form ing power of the past , and tu d" ing this enco u rages a love of history and a reverence for the 1111 este rs, T he love o f trees is fund amental in Druidism , too , ,,,.1 . IS well as stu dying tree lor e, Druids today plant trees an d " It'd groves, and suppo rt reforest at ion p rogrammes. D ru ids luvcx tn ues, to o, and build sto ne circles, collect sto nes and work wn " crystals. T hey love th e truth, and seek thi s in the ir quest 1111 wisdo m and und erstandin g. T hey love animals, seeing them " v.urc d, and th ey study an imal lor e. T hey love th e body and , , ". d ity, beli evin g both to be sac red. I lrlli d ism also enco ur ages a love of each o the r by fostering

40

" ". Iliagic of relati onship and co m m u n ity, and above all a love 101 lile , hy enco uraging celebratio n and a fu ll com m itment to 11it' it is not a sp iritualiry which tr ies to help us esc'pe from a 111 11 r ngagement with th e worl d . ~" Ille D ru id gro ups today p resen t th eir teachings in three I.11 1", or strea ms: th ose o f th e Bard, O vate and D ru id . The 11111'°(" goals o f love, w isdo m and c reative express io n can be " 1.,,,..1 to th e work of th ese th ree streams. Bard ic teachings help '" develop ou r creativity, O vate teach ings help to d evelop our I" v,' ,;". th e natural world and th e co m m un iry of all life, and I I, IIi" teach ings help us in o ur quest for w isdo m .

I IVII'!1 ill the World

I Iu- 1t'.,1 test of the value of a sp irit ual path lies in th e degree to w" " " it ca n help us live ou r lives in the wo rld . It needs to be 111,· 10 provide us w ith inspiration , co unsel and enco urage· 1111 ' 111 :I,li we negoti ate the so metimes d ifficult and even tragic \1' 11 1\ rhar can occur during a lifetime.

II 42

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WHAT DO DRUIDS BELIEVE?

WHAT DO DRUIDS BELIEVE ?

43

T he prima ry phil osophical posture of D ru id ism is o ne of respect towa rds life. A word o fte n used by D ru ids to descri be this approach is reverence. which expands th e co ncep t of respect to include an awareness of th e sacred. By bei ng reverent tow ards hu man be ings. for example. D ruids treat th e body, relati o nsh ips and sexuality with respect a nd as sacred . Reverence should not be co n fused with piousness o r a lack of vigorous engage-

1,"1'," the 1994 C rimi na l Ju stice Act. wh ich gave ch ief consra1011'\ rhe power to d isperse gat herings even if peaceful. In a

men t - true reverence is strong and sensual as we ll as gentle and

whit h portrayed th em as mediat o rs who abstained fro m war. uu ] who urged peace o n opposing a rm ies. Julius Caesar wrote: 100 11 th ey generall)' settle all th eir d isp utes, both public a ud priV,II ,• • • • T he D ruids usually abs tai n fro m war, nor do th ey pa)'

1IIII III ph for justice, the judge d ismi ssed the charge agai nst

Au hur, Many D ruids today adop t a sta nce wh ich abstai ns fro m

10,11 '" ing o the rs, a nd wh ich foc uses o n the idea of Peace. T hey d",w their inspi ration from th e classical acco unt s of th e D ruids.

kind . T his atti tude of reveren ce and respect extends to all creatu res. Ma ny D ru ids will eithe r be vegeta rian. or will cat meat, b ut oppose factory-farmi ng method s. For m an y D ru ids today th e, I.!K('\ IOgcthc r with the o thers; they have exemption from warprim ary po siti on o f lo ve and respect towards all creatures l.1I 1:.' And D iodorus Sicu lus wro te: 'Often w hen the co mbatants exte nds to include a desire to avoid harming others . In Wi cca, lit' l.lI1gcd face to face, and swor ds 3fC drawn and spca r~ arc a Pagan pat h wh ich , tho ug h d ifferent. has mu ch in co m mo n III " dillg, th ese men co me bet ween the arm ies and stay the with Druidry, this idea is exp ressed in th e Wi ccan Rede as 'Do 100lil 1,,, just as wild beasts arc somet imes held spellbo und . T hus \'(,11:lI11ong the most savage barbarians anger yields to wisdom, what you like, so long as )'O U harm no o ne·. 19 T he idea th at we 11,,1 Mars is sha me d be fore the Muses.' sho uld avo id har ming o thers is enshr ine d in Easte rn traditions III add itio n Dru id s today can follow th e exam ple of o ne of in th e d oct rine of Ahimsn. or Non- Vio lence . and was first dlf~ most important figures in the mo dern Dr uid movement, desc ribed in aro u nd BOO BCE in th e Hindu scrip t ures, the Upa nishads . [ ain s, Hi ndus and Buddhists all teach thi s doc- II, '" Nicho ls. wh o in co m mo n with ma ny of th e world's greatest trin e, wh ich becam e popul ar in th e West fo llo wing th e rhi ukcrs a nd sp ir itual tea chers, upheld th e d octrines of nonvtulr- ncc and pacifism . M an y of N ichols' co ntemporaries, wh o non -violcot prot ests of M ah atma Ga nd hi. h.lll,d simi lar interests in Celtic m yth ology. were also pacifists, Th e Pareh aka M aori prot est movem ent in New Zea land and the cam paigns of Martin Lut her King in the USA also helped to lin lud ing the co m poser M ichael Tippett and T H . W h ite , th e uu hor of the Arthu rian The Once & Future King. N icho ls often spread the idea of Ahimsaaro und th e wo rld. In Brita in. o ne particula r D ru id gro np has specialized in non -violent p rot est - the lhl"'d ( 0 fini sh essays he w rote w ith the sim ple sign-off 'Peace to "I h"i ngs.' Loyal Arr h u rian Warba nd led by Arth ur Pe nd ragon , wh o lhc two attitudes of Peace and Love. wh ich man )' Druids believes he is a reincarn ation of King Art h ur. T he War ba nd has hlll.l as fu nda me nta l to th ei r co nd uct in life. are the same two pro tested for free access to Sto nehe nge at th e Druid festival times, and agai nst road-bui lding projects wh ich th reate n sac red IIle.", th ar were cha m p ioned by the alte rna tive cu lture of the I 'Ihl!>- whose prop on ents are now th e m iddl e-aged ge nera tion sites. Art h ur Pen d ragon was th e first British citizen to chal-

WHAT DO DRUI DS BELI EVE?

WHAT DO DRUI DS BELIEVE ?

of ,bab y boomers', T h is is no co inc ide nce . The ideal s of th e sixties we re informed by Rom anticism, and Rom anticism drew upo n th e two so urces of insp irati on o f th e Druids: the world of N atu re and th e world of Sto ry. Via Romanti cism, a thread of ideas co n nec ts thi s oldest o f traditions, Druidism, to th e ide als and values of twentieth-century co u nter-cult u re. Many bab y boomers kn ow in their hearts th at thei r ideals were worthy, but feel deject ed or cynical abo ut how th ey have been aba ndo ned in favo u r o f cons u me rism and the d emands o f liv ing in . the m od ern world. It is easy to interpret Peace and Love as 'soft' o r passive qualiti es, but D ru id ism offers a way of reconnecting to th ese values that renders th em potent and proactive, and translates th em into speci fic acti ons in our everyday lives.

,,1,1 "iemific persp ect ives to a theory th at m an y beli eved were .." h ul.ucd a ce ntury ea rlier by th e Na tive Ameri can leader, I Ilid Seattle. T he m ovin g wo rds a ttribu ted to him insp ired I" ""Ir- all ove r th e world, and awoke the m to th e id ea o f inter-

44

45

I lI lI l lt"l' tcJ ness:

I IIi ~ we know:The Earth docs not belong to man; man belongs III the Earth',This we know. All things arc co nnected like (he hlond which unites o ne family. All things arc connected. W".II cvcr be fulls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did 110 1 weave the web ofl ifc: he is rucrcly a strand in it. Whatever II,. docs {Q the web. he docs {Q himself. II I, now know n that these wo rds were written by the screen-

The Web of Life and the Illusion of Separateness

Woven int o much of D ruid thinking and all o f its practi ce is th e bel ief th at we a re all co n nec ted in a universe th at is essentially beni gn - that we do not exist as isol ated bein gs who must fight to su rvive in a cru el world. Instead we arc seen as part of a great web o r f.1 bri c oflife tha t includes every livin g crea ture and all o f C rea tio n. This is essen tially a pantheisti c view of life, whi ch sees all o f N ature as sac red a nd as interconnected. Th is view has become popular recently th an ks to th e work of James Lovelock wh ose Gaia hypothesis suggests that th e planet is a livin g bein g, fun ctioning as a sing le o rga n ism wh ich m ain tains the co nditio ns necessary for its survival. T he various p rocesses th at occ u r o n Eart h - physical, chemical, geo logical, and biol ogical - are see n as inte rco n nec ted, eac h affecting th e o the r in a co ntinuo us p rocess of exc ha nge and relati onship. D uri ng th e 198 0s, the Gaia hyp o th esis. togethe r with th eories proposed by qu antum ph ysicists like Fritjo f Capra, began to

" lI lr , ' Icd Perry for a 1972 film abo u t ecology. They can no t be

1",,,,.1 in th e first recorded vers io n of th e speec h m ad e in 188 7. IIt,t the ideas co n veye d by Perry's versio n strike a chord in IlIllI\t everyo ne - perhap s becau se o f a n innate sense th at th ey " uu lccd true, perhaps because thi s view is the o ne tha t has I" rn held by o ur fo rebears for millennia. I r-t I"i nly we find th is understanding in An glo-Saxon times, ,, 111' 11 th e ' Web o f Wyrd ' was pictured as a grea t web o f in visi1,1, l1I " e, th at co n nec t everything , and alo ng which th e wi zard '" . h.nuan m ay travel. A sim ilar idea lies at th e basis of th e " " 1<'111 M ystery Tradition, in wh ich each individual is seen as 'I 1I1H l4 u:osm. or tiny replica, of the Universe - the macrocosm . I " "n l'''' th at we dTect with in ourselves are th en beli eved to II... I the ma crocosm - the greater who le, wi th both th e m icro ".I m.rc rocos rn bein g in extricabl y linked . No w that science is starting to explore o ur inter connected III u, u.uli rional barrie rs be tween d isciplines arc sta rt ing to I." "k dow n . W e inc reas ing ly under st and th e limi tati ons of

46

11:11\1

WHAT DO DRUIDS BE LIE VE?

WHAT DO DR UI DS BE LIE VE?

47

studying subjects in isolation . Ju st as th e individual grows fro m 1111' co nseq uences of feding integrat ed in to th e f.1b tie of life the stage o f depende nce through ind ep enden ce to an awa renes '" "",found. Ap art fro m th is trusting posture to ward s life of th eir int erdepend ence, so the same m ay be happening col 1" " If',ing ben efi ts in psych ol ogical and phys ical health for th e lccr ively, Fro m bein g dependent upon d ogma and directior IlId l' lIll1a!. th ere arc ben efits to soc iety too . Abu se a nd explo irafrom the au tho rity figures of ch urc h a nd state, we learn ed fro m " " " i ornes fro m th e illusion of sepa rate ness. O nce yo u believe th e age of th e En lighte n me nt o nwa rds to manifest our individ- ,10,11 y" u arc part of th e family of life, and that all things a re uali ry, until now we arc sran illg to discover that in rea lity W( I " " l1n red , the values o f love and reverence for life natu rally live in a n in terdependent world , wh ere no one can truly be at 1" II " w, as docs th e pr acti ce of peacefulness and harmlessn ess. island. D ru ids o ften expe rience th is bdiefin their bodies and hearn

, II", I nw of the Ha rve s t . I' I " rat her t Iian SI mI' Y m t icir mmds. 1 hey find th em selves fedi ng in creasin gly at home in th e world - and whe n they walk a lii o nto the land and look up at th e moon or stars, or smell rhe co m ing rain on the w ind they fed in the fabric o f th eir bein gJ th at th ey ate a part of th e fami ly of life, th at th ey are ' home'l and th at th ey arc not alone . Here is how o ne practition er expresses this:

0111 wo rld c reates an effect whi ch will ultimately also aflccr us.

whistle of rhe Red Tail Hawk who hrin gs a fierce clarity in

W " • .rn be liefs arc o fte n sim ilar to D ru id o nes. Just as th e doc" ' nr "f harmlessn ess is exp ressed in th e maxim ' D o wha t yo u I I~l • \ 0 lon g as you harm no o ne', so the idea that ou r actions "'.'r ,('hound o n us is p resented as th e ' Law o f th e Threefold II I 111111' , which suggests that the effect o f o ur ac tio ns or inr cn ",,'" will return to us threefold . A sim ilar idea (avo id ing th e

moments of co nfusio n. No lon ger a separatc co nscio usness, as

ru.ulu- nuu ical precision of the Wiccan maxim which runs the

I walk throu gh woods and m eadows, I am a parr o f the fabric,

11.1. " I" heing interp reted lite rally) is found in man y different

woven into the pattern . T here is no hierarch y of hum an before

" .l li, i' " ls and cu ltur es: folk wisdo m in Brit ain and Am eri ca ,IV_ that 'w h; r go es arou nd co mes arou nd' and in ancient

As a Druid I learn th e b nguage o f sto nes and trees. I hear the

animal or plant before sto ne.

I listen to the trees and the voices of the wind in the trees. I stand still in the parh as my dog snuffs ahead of me, and I feci th e breat h, and the speech the wind as spirit vo ices. I watch

or

the beech leaves which clin g to the bran ches in win ter, shake their h;II11ls, h undreds of tiny parchm ent palm s o n silver arms. T hey trem ble in a cho ru... of declaratio n: 'T his is always here. do no r und erestim ate the pow er o f the spirit whi ch wand ers these

tracks.' I am rewove n in the wood s . ..

IlllllIlll l l

II. I.II('d to th e idea th at we a rc all co n necte d in one grea t web

" , Id,' is th e belief held by most D rui d s th at wha tever we do in

I HY I" , ih c idea attr ibut ed to Jesu s wh en he said 'As ye sow, so 10 .01 1 y" reap' was spo ken by the god Thoth several th ou san d , '" ru rlier in th e Egypti'ln Book of the DMd, whe n he said 111 11 II is the harvest scy the. Wh at is sow n - love o r a ng e r o r 1,,,,, 'lIle,, - th at shall be yo u r br ead . T he co rn is no bett er 01 r.", iI.' seed , th en let wh at yo u plant be good.' In H induism " " I Ilnddhism th e id ea is exp ressed as th e doctrine o f ca use

lil t! c·Hc.'ct, or karma.

48

WHAT DO DRUIDS BELIEVE ?

T he tw o beliefs - th at all is co nnec ted a nd th at we will h at. vest the co nseq uences of our acti on s - co me naturally to D rui ds, because they rep resen t ideas th at evolve o ur o f an observatio n of th e natural world. Ju st as the feelin g of o ur bein g pall of th e great web of life ca n co me to us as we gaze in awe a t the beau ty of natu re, so th e awa reness th at we wi ll reap th e co nscquen ces of o ur acti o ns also co mes to us as we o bserve the processes of sowing and harvesting. In Sl,!n m ary, most D rui ds to day wi ll hold to th e follow ing six co re beliefs: the importance of to lerance and acce pting di versity of o p inio n and belief: th e existe nce of Spirit o r Deity; th e existen ce of the O therwo rld : th e p rocess of Rebirth : th e Web 01 Life; and th e Law of the Ha rvest.

6 Myst ici sm, Shamanism and Magic

l\~u Hn i ng

Druid, taking to the Druid Way, does nor depend on hidden and closely guarded lore any more than it depends surface manifestations. A Druid is inspired by the most

Il IlW PII

l'\\('ll l i;l l ,

bright. open and accessible of sources.

G reywind, The Voir< withilll"r Willd - olBrcomillg "lid the Druid IIWy

"",,- people foll ow Druidism as a sp iritua l or philosophical 'l' I"",,, h to life: th ey like th e way th at it respects N atu re, th e I}' II no dogma , has no creed , and is open to memb ers ,( "II I:,iths and non e. T hey don 't feci th e necessity to ' have ' a

"ners

""K'''", or th ey sha re John Len no n's vision wh en he sa ng , in

1,1"W "c·. of an idea l world with no religio n. O the rs practi se of the mainstream religions but also feel themselves to be 1'",101- an d so th er e arc C h rist ian o r Buddhist D ruids. fo r uuple. Still o the rs follow D ru idis m as a religio n in its ow n tlll"l Ame rica n D rui d gro ups in pa rti cu lar oftell rela te to Illllllh)' ;IS a neo -Pagnn religion. Isaac Bo ncwi rs, a key figure in I " I )lIIid ry, wr ites:

Itlll

50

51

MYSTIC ISM, S HAMANIS M AND MAGI C

MYSTI CI S M, S HAMANIS M AND MAGIC

'In ADF we believe that excellence in clergy training and peacricc' is viral for any healthy, growing religion. [In rhe future] we sec ralcmc d and well-tra ined Ncopagan clergy leading th o u-

lhc belief th at th ere is more to life th an th e world of appear"" n , that an O therwo rld exists, leads logic.111y to the belief th at .. ' 1 .1ll make contact with forces and bein gs th at exist beyond IIII' world of appearances. M any peopl e have had experiences of .1I.l\cnso ry perception ' - even if o nly fleet ingly, perh aps just

sands of people in effective magical and mundan e ac t ions to save endangered species,

SlO p

polluters, and preserve wilder-

ness. We sec o ur healers saving thousands o flivcs and our Bards

inspiring millions through music and video co ncerts and dramas. We sec N copaganism as a mass rel igio n. changi ng social. political, and environ mental att itudes around [he world,'

IIlh C'

III III

I'm one of those who sees Druidry as a spiritual/philoso phical a pproac h. I have never been comfortable with organized religions; indeed, given the long history of horrend ous deed s don e in the name of various religions, I have often wond ered if the positive aspects co uld possibly outweigh the negatives. Still, I have always felt deeply spiritual, and I do believe in Deity. And s ince I tend toward pantheism in my perception, Druidry has been ideal for me. Ialso appreciate the inclusiveness of Druidry, because I am not arrogant enough to believe that my opinions on religions must be shared by all. K. H., Louisiana, USA

or twice in their lives. And a significa nt proportion of

I,,,, plc have had expe riences of making co ntact, or of being 'W,III' of rhc presence of loved ones after th ey have di ed. 'o llie peopl e feel that an exploratio n o f the O therwor ld o r of lin dimen sions' is not for them. and it may even scare them I u n tc m plate making suc h an attempt. But for o thers, noih-

oukl be more exciting. Like explorers, th ey may sense th ere risk (of delusion , madness or the disappointment off.1il1111') inn th eir inherent cu riosity drives th em forward . 1hi, d esire to explore th e wo rld beyond the 'veil of appear'" n' has always existed - holy people, shama ns and wizards in " y cu ltu re have di scovered a host of ways to open the 'doors ,I I'C' lt'l"ion ,' as Aldou s Huxley pu t it, and to travel th rou gh 111I1 ~ (' doors. They have meditated. eaten magic mushroom s, III1,k,'" herb s, created hallu cinogen ic brews from roots, plants 11, 1 .iuimals, dan ced o r drummed until th ey ente red a tran ce, I. .. ,,, or retrea ted int o solitude for mon th s o r years o n end - all III 01,,' hopes of b reaking th rou gh or out of the mat rix of 'co n1l ~t1 ' Il'ality' (0 achieve an experience realiti es o r states o f 11111'

I . "'lilt·

or

"' " 1I 111.\I1eSS beyond th e everyday. Despite th e am bi tious ent hus iasm o f Bon ewit s' ideas, the majori ty o f American s join groups based in Britain whi ch sec D ru id ry less as a specific religion , and more as a spiritu al path th at can be followed in a variety of ways, depending upon the needs of th e seeke r. In this app roach, th e D ru id Way is often u nderstood as a path of in itiati on that can help the individ ual achieve th eir mystical, sha ma nic or m agical goals.

III .. nd Shaman

their sole spiritual desire is to unite with Deity. how0I 1t:y co nce ive of thi s: as Go d , Goddess, G reat Spirit or 11I1II.ltl' C ause. '10 suc h a mysti c th ere is as littl e point 1,I'"I IlJ.: th e co m plexi ties and di fferent levels of th e I ' 11111<.' I

J {.

'. , '

'

,

11

n

n

....

1'111

Iii

III

'III 1

111

:

\

II 1 , III II I11

III

II

III

III

III III 11,11

IIi I

IIIIII1

O the rworld as th ere is to exp lor ing th e world o f ap pearances h.unanic Jou rneying T hey are interesting, perhap s, but ultimatel y a di straction because from the mystic's viewpoint the only trul y real th ing i: Il uli ng these journeys, en counters o ften occur with I .. hcrworld ly bein gs, suc h as an ancesto r, a deceased relative or Deity. O thers believe th at every level of reality offers valid and valu- 1""".1. o r a sp irir guide, who may appea r as an anima l, a human ab le expe riences, and wa nt to travel beyond th e veil 01 III 111 some other form . Sceptics may co nsider these experiences Ill!" IC,\UIt of an excessively vivid imagination, but those who appearances, not to sh un th e sed uctio ns of th e O therwo rld an tr avel straigh t to th e heart of De ity, but instead to explore rhr I",v<' taken th ese journeys o ften expe rience profound insights treasures and to expe rience the learning th ey hope to find in llul lll·aling. Sometimes these shamanic experiences occ ur spo nth at O therwo rld. T h is is th e shama nic as opposed to th e mys' H lIf'O llS !Y - wh en in a dream we meet a being wh o gives us tical approach to sp iritual de velopment and ex plo rat io n 1ll'.llillg or advice. or when awake we become aware of so meo ne Alth ou gh th e term 'shama nism' co mes or iginally fro m the terra wit" Itas died co unselling o r co nso ling us. But those wh o follow used to describe t he practice of tr aditional Sibe rian healer I'"ti d ry as a shamanic path att em pt deliberately to make co nmagicians, in recent times its usc has broadened into what Michad ,,, I with th e O the rwo rld - to take th e beli ef th at 'all is «unrcted ' literally, and begin ro explore ce rta in of th ese links H arner, a world author ity o n sha ma n ism , has called 'a metho to open a door and en ter a different real ity'. So me co ntem po- 1111 1 ~ onnections, 'ollle teachers work with drums. encouraging those present rary writers even talk abo ut 'Celtic sha man ism' wh en th ey refel to certa in practi ces mentioned in C eltic literature th at help rh , .. II .ivel o n the beat of th e drum to th e Otherwo rld , while seeker enter different realities and return with visions, insight. IIdl("I' w ill lise the pow er of their vo ice to guide the listeners' ,w.'c"ess . Either of these techn iqu es will usu ally be em bedded or information . O ne of th e appealing q ualities of D ru id ry is its versatility, Ii wu hin a ritu al design ed to estab lish a sense of bein g with in a , 'n l space, and to evoke the guida nce and protection of Deity o ffe rs a co ntext for a wid e variety of ap proaches to spi ritual ., .lciries, a nd perhap s O the rwo rld ly g ua rd ians o r sp irits. development. Even th ou gh mystics-shun th e sed uctions o f both this world and th e O therwo rld, th ey wi ll usually usc prayers, I ' li lit e. sacred movem en ts or ges tures. and chanting may be imagery and exercises from a parti cu lar tradi rion to help th er "., ,I d"ring the ceremo ny, and ritual objects, cand les, incen se, 'otIU" and pictures mi gh t be employed to en hance the parin thei r q uest. So D ru id mystics will use C eltic or D ru id rituals images and prayers. Those who arc more sha ma nically incl ine, ,,, 'I" " "s' awareness of th e sacre d . T he ritu al might also take will add to th ese eleme nts th e use o f gu ided medi tat ions, tra nc I'!'" c' within a Celtic swear house, which - like a Native American W,,;II lodge - creates a pow erful environment for und ertaking work. dancin g o r drumming to achieve their aim o f cn rcri n 11,1, work, Unt il th e nin eteenth century, th e Irish used sweatot he r sta tes of awa reness - a process whi ch is ofrcn tcrrne I".",,·, fuelled by peat , wh ich th ey called T igh 'n' Allu is. To day 'jo urneying' and wh ich has also been called 'astral tr avelling', Vf' oCld hurning stove or heated sto nes arc used . 4

IVII .-:l r I ..... I ;:.IYI, ,') n f.\ IVI A IIJ!.:> IVI A IIJU IVI A b l e

The Path of Magic

There is yet o ne m ore way in which Dru idry ca n be pursu ed as a pa th of m agic. T he m agical approac h in Druidry, like th e m ysti cal and sharna nic, foll ows from th e beli ef tha t 'all is connected ' and th at o the r wo rlds or dimen sions exist in add ition to th e realm o f appearances. But it also takes into considera tio n th e view that we arc m eant to be here. tha t we are destin ed to be active. creative participan ts in life. and that our th ough ts. fed ings, words and actio ns all h ave an effect wh ich o beys the Law of th e H ar vest. Like ripples in a pool ca use d by a stone falling in to it. the magician sees eac h person as an influen tial bei ng. who can ca use eithe r joy or sor row by the way th at they live th ei r lives. M an y peopl e thi n k of m agic eithe r as th e creatio n of illusio n. as in stage magic. o r as the atte m pt to manipulate circums tances o r people thro ug h spel l-cas ting in o rde r to o b tain things. suc h as love or wealth. But th ere is another typ e of m agic th at is mu ch more interestin g and w hich involves at its heart sensi ng life as awe-ins p iring. as m agical in the best se nse of th e wo rd . From th is persp ective D ru id ism offers ide as and tecbniques th at ca n e nha nce o ne's awa reness of life as m agical, and ca n make the practice o f magic a co nscio us attempt to assume resp on sibility for o u r th oughts. words and deeds. T he wo rld then becomes a ma gical place. and o ne's life a m agical jo urney th at tak es place within it. Two co ncepts in D ru id ry are helpful in pursuing th e magical path. In the Aster ix ca rtoon books the D ru id Gerafix is o ften see n st irr ing a cauld ro n to create a m agical elixir tha t will co nfer su pe rh uma n streng th o n Asre rix, th e he ro of th e tal e. Suc h an elixir does exist in Druid ry - no t in th e form of an act ua l liqu id . bu t in th e form of a n ene rgy wh ich is see n as bringing illurn i-

"

insp iration and wi sdom. Known as Awen in Welsh , and in Irish, D ruids sense this as a univ ersal fo rce wh ich flows """ ug h th e wo rld and w h ich ca n be enco uraged to flow tl"""gh us to bring us th ese gifts . T he words ' l m bas' an d 'Awen' ", ' chnn ted in ce remon ies o r m editati on. and the study of thi s Inn c, and how to encourage it in o ur lives. forms the basis of uu uh D ru id tr ain in g. Ano the r force is said to exist to o - NUlyfte. wh ich is a W elsh wo n ], d eriving from a n a nc ien t C el tic word Naomb, m eaning liu namcnt' or ' hea ven s'. N wy fre is t he life for ce that flows 11, 11io n,

/,"/IIiS

"" '"lgh th e Universe. and whi ch is called C hi o r Q i in C hina 1111 1 l'run a in Indi a. By cultivating th e flow o f N wyfre and Awen , th e D ru id aims iu ,mpro ve th eir ph ysical vitality and thei r creative ability. In doing ,I",. th e Druid has access to two powerful 'elixirs' wh ich can aid hi ll, or her in a wo rk whi ch is essent ially alc he m ical. Alc he my. . _ .1 branch of magic, can he practised either as an external o r as an I'"l'rna l art . Used externa lly it atte m pts to m anipulat e m att er c rcare go ld. Used internally it attem pts to transform the ,I, hcm ist, sym bolic., lIy or metaphorically, into gold . Rath er than

'
king with the energies of Awen and Nwyfre to ma n ipu late circum stances, the Druid USCIi these f(uces ro transfo rm rlu-rusclvcs. Ironi cally. this often has the eflecr of cha ng ing o uter I I II umsran ces more effect ively than :lny atte mpt to manipu late ""'m directl y. becau se o ur circu ms tances often depen d upon 11111 internal states, and umi! Oll l' internal state changes, attempts '
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luut -lived, So me people avo id a nyt hi ng whic h is label led m agical. Yet. II l1n· we un derstand the way in w hich magic is used and underI llod in D ruidry, we can sec that it involves an ethica l :lu em pt '
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we affecr the world aro und us, whether we arc conscious of thi s or not .

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There arc two ways that we can work magically with Druidry, T he first could be termed passive and involves adopt ing 30 att itude of awe and reverence towards life and the world. T his 'way of bein g' is also a way of seeing, as the writer Marcel Proust expressed so well when he said: 'The real magic lies no t in seeking new land scapes but in having new eyes.' W hen we sec and understand life to be magical. we start (0 experience it as magical in our hearts and so uls too . T he second way could be termed active and involves becom ing awa re of the creative power th at we possess simply by being alive, and then consciously wor king to usc that creative power in the service of our vallies and ideals. Here we can sec how the goals of the D ruid to wor k toward s love, wisdom and creativity call becom e in themselves magical goals.

7 Ethics and Values

For the most part, Dru id ethics arc n ot much difTerent from Christia;l or Buddhist ethics. What sets modern Druid ethics ;tpan is that it de-emphasizes hlind trust and obed ience 1O aurho ritics, n...jee rs the idea tha t there arc any scriptures that arc mo re sacred tha n others. and grounds its ideal of respect and love in the who le natu ral world, not just the hum an co mmunity.

A/ftrian Gsoydion Macl.ir, ft om a Mt'ssagt" Board discussion 0 11 Druid Ethics 01/ www'£lruidryorg lh c class ical aut ho r Strabo wro te th at the D ru ids stud ied 'mor al phi losop hy'i-? T he aut ho r Brendan Myers conclu des , h.ll the first moral principle of the ancient D ruids was a devod Oli to truth. In the Tcsr nm enr o f Morann, a docu ment traced It> rlie period between the sevent h and nint h cent uries CE, but which seems to em erge out of the pre-C hristian Dru idic period , «lvice is given on how a prince should rule: Let him magnify Tnnh, it will magnify him. lcr him strengthen Truth. it will strengthen him.

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. . . T hrough the ruler's Trurh massive mortalities arc averred from men.

.. . T hrough the ruler's Truth all the land is fruitful and childbirth worthy. Through the ruler's Tru th there is abundance of rail corn. St Patri ck was said to have asked O isin , th e so n of Fionn M acCumhaill, wh at sustained his peopl e befor e the advent of C h ristian ity, to wh ich he replied: 'T he tr u th th at was in our hearts, and strength in ou r arms, and fulfilme nt in our tongu es.' Myers co ncludes: 'It is in terestin g tha t he sho uld cite truth first, as th ou gh truth had an ove rrid ing place in the cultu re. T his evid en ce leads m e to beli eve th at th e fir st moral principle of D ruidism is this: in a situatio n where a moral decision must be m ad e, we should always choose truth , in th e expa nsio n an d enr ich me nt of human knowled ge, in o u rselves and o thers, and at all levels o f our being.? " In the final analysis, th ough , Myers sugges ts that the D ru ids may not have ad he red to spec ific ru les an d aut hor ities to determi ne ptoper ethi cal co nd uc t. In stead he sees the m str iving to beco me a certain kind of person , out of who m et hical behaviour naturally arises. Ath elia Ni hrscada also turns to Irish so u rce m at er ia l to exp lo re D ru id e t h ics. T he o ld Breh on laws, which we re record ed by C h rist ian cleri cs in th e fift h cent u ry CE, pred at ed C h risti a n ity a nd o ffer a fascinat ing in sight in to earl y Irish soc iety. By stud ying th ese law s and see ing h ow th ey m igh t be a p plicab le to m odern living, N ihtscad a has a rt icu lated eleven prin cip les o r cod es of co nd uc t for th e co ntem p o rary Dru id :

2 3 4 5 6 7

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Every action has a conseq ue nce that must be obser ved an d yo u mu st be pr ep ared to co m pe nsate fo r yo ur actions if req uired. All life is sacred and a ll are responsib le fo r seeing tha t th is standa rd is upheld . You do still live in society and are bound by its rul es. Work with high standa rds. Make an ho nest living. Be a good host as well as a goo d guest. Take care o f yourself. (H ealth was held in high estee m amo ngst the C elts, so much th at a person co uld he fined for bein g grossly overwe igh t d ue to lack of ca re.) Serve you r com munity. M aintain a healthy ba lan ce between the spiritua l and worl dly. (N ihtscad wri tes: ' Ethical and self-respecti ng Druids did noth ing without being p roperly schooled or aware of the consequences ahead of time. They knew when it was appropriate to visit the O therwo rld and im merse themselves in the spiritual as well as when it was appro priate to he fully in this wo rld .') Uphold th e Tru th, sta rt ing wit h yo urself. Be sure in yo ur convic tio ns, part icu larly whe n jud ging o r accusing someone, b ut also when debating, Ask you r~ self: are you really sure? D o yo u really know that th is is the case?22

Apa rt from the work of Myers and N ihrscad, little has been written about eth ics in COil te mpora ry D ruidism since most I h llids are keen (() avo id the problem s caused by dictatin g a runraliry to othe rs. So mu ch suffering has resulted througho ut hivrory becau se one gro up o f peop le have d ecided th at it is nod to d o o ne th ing a nd ba d to d o another. J ust as most

60

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AI \lU VALue"

Druids have avoided di ct atin g which typ e of th eolo gy someo ne sho uld ado pt, so too have th ey avoided tellin g each other. or the wo rld, how to behave. Over the years, tho ug h. I have no ticed t hat most D ruids have a highl y developed sense of eth ical beh aviour. whic h is usually implicit in th eir act ions. rathe r than explicitly sta ted . A person can o nly act ethically if they hold to certain values, and by talking abo ut these values we can avoid the pitfall of suggesting ethi cal guidelines which can th en so easily turn into a dogm a. Instead of imposing a co de of co nd uct upon peopl e. we can return to M yers' suggestio n to practise a D ru id ry th at helps us beco me a certa in kind of person . a lit of who m erhi cal hehaviour naturally arises. Druidry asks us, above all, to o pen ou rselves to th e inspiration and beauty of Nature and Art , th rough its celeb ration of creat ivity. By nourishing ourselves through co ntact with th e natu ral wo rld and with art of every kind, and by holdin g to th e co re beliefs of Druid ism already o utlined, a number o f qu alities eme rge as values that can form th e basis of ethical decision s and behaviour. In parti cul ar. th e follow ing four qu alities rep resent co re values that are fostered by follo win g D ru id ism as a sp iritual path today: responsibili ty. co m mu n ity, trust and integ rity. It is easy to sec o urselves as victims in life - as tiny cogs in a vast and imperson al machin e driven by o thers for eco no mic and pol itical ends. But by holding to the beli ef th at everyt h ing is co n nected, that ano ther reality exists beyond th e everyday ph ysical wo rld, and th at everyth ing we thi nk. feel o r d o has an effect, th e D ru id is ab le to assu me an att itu de of responsibi lit y. and to feel empowered to he of valu e in th e wo rld. Like everyo ne else, th ey will some times feel the vict im of others o r of circu mstances. W h ile that feeling may co me and go , the pred o minant belief will be that each of us is a causal bein g who

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exists in a web of life tha t unites every livin g creature, This mea ns that each of us can choose to act as a force for goo d in rhc world. The Druid will tend to see man y o f th e world's problem s lIIergin g fro m a refusal to ta ke respo nsibility and to act for th e fo " 'ater good of th e who le. By not takin g responsibili ty for cnviioumcnral degradat ion . for example. they see politicians an d ,o' porations acting sim p ly for th e sho rt-te rm gains of power .II ,d profit. M an y political systems a nd most corpo rations d o not enco urage th e taking o f individual resp onsib ility or th e v.due of personal em powerme nt . Instead th ey need co nsum p"o n and co m p liance. D ru id ism enco u rages th e taki ng of

.udividual respo nsibility - first in o ur own lives, then in co ncert with othe rs for our co m m un ity, and for th e wider issues that Ilf"ct the co m m un ity of all life. 'la king respon sibility for our th ou ghts. feelin gs an d actions lnsters an att it ude of respo nsib ility towards o the rs. and th e world needs respon sibl e peopl e now more th an ever. Increasing urbanization, population growth, the co rn mcrt r.ilizarion of culture, the development of co nsumerism and globalization, have all tended to und erm ine o ur sense of livin g III a co mmunity, close to o ur fellow human beings, dose to m imals a nd th e land . Many peopl e a re d rawn to D ru id ry hccause th ey find it helps th em get back in touch wi th 'the , ucle o f all Beings'. By its reverential att itude to Na ture . by its 1,,·lief in th e sacred ness of all creatures. and by its belief in th e hol isti c relat io nsh ip between all things. D ru id ry foste rs th e v.rlue of com m u ni ty, o f relati onsh ip with others. ' I'here will be times wh en we need solitude and. like all sp ir1I11al paths, D ruidry recogni zes the need for ret reats, wh en we 11'1 go of o ur co ncerns for others and foc us instead o n our pc:r... na! quest o r upon Deity. But D ru idry is not a path th at

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advocates a permanent det achment from others or the wo rld. Instead it urges a pro -ac tive and cnthusiascic, Awcn-fillcd eng ageme nt with others and the world. seeing life on earth as meaningful and purposeful - as an adven tu re to be undertaken rather th an as a p riso n from whi ch we shou ld esca pe. o r as a b rid ge we sho uld sim ply cross . There will be times wh en a D ru id feels alone. isolat ed or aliena ted from others. While th at feeling may co me and go, holding to th e valu e o f co m mu nity will en abl e them to ret urn to a bedrock o f feeling and belief in whi ch th ey are part o f o ne fam ily - the web of life, th e circle o f all Beings.

I would love to live Like a river flows, Carried by the surprise Of its own unfolding. John O'Donohue C o m ing to place a value in co m m unity and in bein g in rela-

tionship with the circle o f all Bein gs co mes from th e simple observa tio n o f Na ture. and the way in whic h everyth ing is connected . In a similar way. co ntem plating rhe flow of a river brin gs us to the value of trust. It is a co mmo n experience amo ng peo ple wh o are aware o f th e sp iritual dimension to find that when th ey tru st in life th ey find it easier to en ter a 'flow' which carries th eir life along with a qualit y of ligh rn css, joy and effortlessness, th at also keeps th em aligned with th eir spiritual purpose. or co urse trust will so metimes g ive W:lY to its opposite - mi st rust and fear - but by believing that life is fund am entally good. that there is mcanin g and p~rpose to ex istence, the spiritual seeker finds it increasin gly easy to co me back to th e position o f trust.

Th e more we can trust in life, the more we can enco urage this lluw. Experiencing the inspi ration o f Awcn as a flow is co m mo n '"r creative people - when the y arc inspired th ey feel creative "ncrgy literally flowing through their bodi es and they co mmonly ,,!,ort th at all th ey ne ed to do is tru st and get th eir thinking minds o ut of the way, so th at th e flow ca n co nt inue and creation ' .111 occu r. Likewise with Nwyfre - wh en we are full of health nd vitality. we feel as if the life for ce is flowing freely and clea rly ",, "ugh us. When we are un well th at for ce no longer flows. and we can sometimes sense blocka ges of energy in o ur bod y. By affirm ing th e value o f trust . and by returning co nsta n tly ," rhis po sition. wh at ever set backs may occur. ou r life - the 1 11~(,: is io ns we make, the relation ships we form - begin s (0 he

"Iii" on trust rather than on fear: o n the need to co nfo rm , to

ur.iinrain statu s, or to prot ect ourselve s. fo r example. The magical understanding of Dru idry, that o ur state of being uitlucnces th e world around us. tells us that as we co nnect to th e " ,Inc of trust in life. thi s trust will sta rt to radiate. and will in its 111111 attract trust from o thers. ge nera ting a bcn cficenr cycle, Although th e term integrity is o ften used ro mean 'th e qual' y of possessin g and stead fastly ad he ri ng to h igh moral I'ri nciples and professio nal standa rds' , its deep er meaning is I"fln ed in th e di cti onar y as 'the state of bein g co mplete and undivided . The sta te of being so u nd or undamaged .' Before a mission is, sent into space, fo r exam ple, the integrity of th e 1',l( ccraft is checked again and again.

Used in this d eeper sense. int egrity becomes a valu e or qualty sough t by Druids. just as it is by all sp iritual seekers. T he I'iri'ual journey begin s for us when we sense that we arc lackIIH so me thing . We feel incomplete . and so we hegin to strive wards D eity. enligh ren mc n r. wh oleness. Fu rt he r alo ng th e rck we di scover th at th ese realities exist with in us and th at it

ETHI CS AND VAL UES

ET HICS AN D VALU ES

is o n ly o ur mind th at beli eves we arc separated from them . Slowly, th rou gh m ed itati on and spiritua l pra ctice, we open to an awareness of o ur co mpleteness, o ur who leness. We find integri ty. And fro m thi s p lace o f int egri ty we ca n act w ith aut he n ticity - no t tryin g to be so meo ne o the r than who we sim ply are. Aga in, as with all these qu alities, there will be times when we

IlIling religiou s or politi cal elite, we ca n d evelop a stro ng ind ivid ual sense o f mo rality and eth ics born a lit of o ur own inn er i unnecrion to such valu es. Blaise Pascal succinc tly summarized , III the following triad , the ingredients we need to develop thi s mora liry, when he said sim p ly: ' H eart , instinct, princip les.'

64

lo se o ur sense of integrity, whe n we feci desperately inco m plete or

divided , and whe n we act not hon estly and from our deepest fed ings but inaurhenr ically OU I of fear or m isunderstan d ing. BUI o ne o f the values of following a spiritual path lies in its acting as a gen tle rem inder, and offer ing par ticular disciplines that bri ng lIS back 10 a con tem plation of these co re qu alities. In th is way, ovc i time, our experience of a lack of any qu ality will sta rt to di m inish as OU f spiritual life co nnects us to these co re values. It is import an t to u nderstand , ho weve r, th at the holistic

sta nce o f D ru idry does no t d en y the value o r p u rp ose of experien cing diffic u lt y or disco m fort. O ur d ep th of h u m a n ity co mes precisely from o u r experie nc ing th e co ntrasts o f lire: w itho u t t he expe rience o f u nh ap p iness we wo uld not be ab lt to fu lly ap p recia te hap p iness. M at urity o f cha racte r and so ul seems to require so me amo unt of su ffering, and we need to expe rience - ideally in sm all a nd m anageab le doses - th e lack o f each of the qualities d iscussed, so tha t we ca n exper ien ce . the feel ing a nd effects of irrespo nsib ility, alienatio n, di sem power ment, fear a nd lack o f integrity, in or de r to be co mplete human beings. In th e end values or pr incip les suc h as th ose sta ted here, with othe rs that a rc related to o r flow fro m th em - such a, honour, coutage a nd respect - ca n fo rm the basis o ut o f whi ch eth ical and mo ral d ecisions can be mad e. Rath er than in tern al izing a m o ral code devel o ped perhaps ce ntu ries ago by rhr

65

8 Wh at Do Drui ds Do?

Enviro nme n ralism , when co nceived as a spiritual path and grounded in an ancestral trad ition such as D ruidry, can be :I

powerfu l force for healing in this world. Bren dan Myers, Dangerous Religion

-s

Environmcntal

Spirituality "'ItJ Its Activist Dimension

The Seasonal Festivals

At th e heart of Dr uidi sm lies a love of Nat ure and of her changing f.,ce as the seaso ns turn. Eight times a year, on ce every six weeks or so, D ru ids parti cipate in a cele bra tion tha t expresses this devoti o n ( 0 the natu ral wo rld. T hese seaso nal fest ivals can be large p ub lic even ts wit h hund reds o f ad ults and chi ld ten gathe ring at sac red si tes, suc h as Sto nehe nge, Aveb ur y or G lasto nb ury, or they can he very private event s celebrated by a single Druid in their garden or livin g roo m, or by a small gro up of D ruids and friends who have gathered together in a park or garden . T hese eigh t seaso na l festi vals co nsist o f t he so lst ices and eq uino xes: four mom ents during the year which arc d ictated by

Id alionship between th e Earth and Sun , and th e four crossraucr day festivals whi ch are not determin ed astron omically, 111 .'e related to the traditi onal pastoral calenda r, lhc summe r and winter solstices arc celebrated wh en the sun ueurcst and fu rt hest fro m th e Eart h . T he su m m er so lstice "" rhe lo ngest d ay o f the year, 2 1 o r 22 Jun e. Th e win te r ,I.rice is on th e sho rtes t d ay of year, 2 1 o r 22 De ce mbe r, I" eq uinoxes occ u r wh en d ay and night are eq ual: o n 2 1 o r March in sp ring and 2 1 or 22 Septem ber in au ru m n. In th e uuh cru hem isp here these d ates are reversed . I'he other four festivals arc also related to th e seasons, but arc 11 11 ' tied to spec ific ast ro no m ica l events. Instead th ey have ••ilvcd from tradition al festi val times linked to f.l rming p rac,. ,' , begun in western Europe thou sands of years ago: lambing u (·.•rly February, bringing th e cattle o ut to pasture in early M.IY, rhe start o f the harvest at the beginning of August, and the I''''parations for winter at the end of O ctober. Ilruids o bserve thi s eigh tfo ld cycle o f fest ivals by m eetin g (ogcther, o r cele brating on their own . So metimes the celebre\I11 U will be inform al - a pi cni c with friends, o r a pa n y d ur ing wl,ieh so meo ne will speak abo u t the time o f yea r and its siglIi/lca nee, acco m pa nied perhaps by sto rytel ling, mu sic o r I'''etr y. At o ther times th e celeb rat ion will he formal. W he n ,I,,: O rde r of Bard s, O vares and D ruids celebrates th e su m me r 111M ice at Sto nehenge , for exam ple , a hund red o r so parr ici1'.,utS w ill wa lk, robed and in silenc e, th ree t im es around the great trilithons befo re e nter ing the inne r ci rcle o f sto nes III stand to gether in a circle. After three no tes from a replica luo nzc-Age horn, kn own as a do rd, each o f th e card inal di reciions will be greeted, and then the meaning o f th e so lst ice will he explained , foll owed by a m edi ta ti on and Eisted dfod o f mu sic and poetry.

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At other tim es, thou gh, the celebratio ns co mbine a form al fllllal with informal d em ents, suc h as o n G lasto nbury To r

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when several hund red ad ults and childr en gather rogcrhcr in a vircle for a solstice celebratio n, Some people will be wearing ,"\'es o'f different co lours and design , others will be dr essed in rvcryday clothes. A circle will be cast by ch ild ren scatte ring ,"'I"Is or blowin g bubbles. A lire cate r will bless th e circle with luc, and so meone will sprin kle eve ryo ne wi th wat er from Chalice Well as a further blessing. T he ritu al itself is formal , in ,he sense th at it has been prep ared in ad vance and includes tra.luio nal elements, bur the ambience is informal and joyful. lvcry so often all parti cip ants will spo nta neo usly chee r, laugh " ' clap, and at th e clo sing of the ceremo ny th e crowd will .uher in clusters to sit and chat, to admire the view, o r to pknic together. Often Druid festivals include a central section known by the W,·lsh word ' Eisteddfod', wbi ch ofTers a tim e for the expressio n III creativity by anyon e in the circle, Alth ough certain, parrici!"II11S

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The Eight Pestiuals and the Wheelof the Year

may g uide the festi val, and have various roles within

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(, "" h as casting or blessing the circle) no on e is acting as a II I i c~{ or priestess. in the sense of beiug an intermed iary between Ihe other participants and Deity. Slime forms of Druidism , particularly in the USA, have a diflru-nt approach and mod el th emselves o n the revealed religions' \lor of co ncepts such as clergy and laity, but the co ntempo rary I ),uidry that has emerged Ollt of Britain over the last forty years JOVII"rs a difTerent and more egalitarian app roach, in the belief 11..11 attempts to create a 'priest/e sshoo d' are fraught with dimII Ilies, with the risks of ego inflation, mystifi cation anti the IM"lI1pOWerment of those not within the 'in ner circle ' o f the li"l"( '"

l'he purpose of celebrating the eigh t seasonal festivals is to

70

W HAT DO DRUIUS UU '

create a pattern or rh yth m in our year tha t allows for a rew hou rs' pause every six weeks or so in our busy and often stre ssfu l ro ut ine, so that we ca n open ro the magic of bein g alive on this eart h at th is special time. It gives us a cha nce to fu lly enter the moment, to co n nect with the life of the land aro un d us, and to feel the in fluen ce of the seaso n in o ur bodies, hearts and minds. If we celebrate o n o ur ow n, it is a time when we call enter into med itatio n, perhaps reviewing o ur life since the last festival, th inking forwa rd to the next one, then returning to ope n o urselves fully to the Here a nd Now. In add ition to o bserv ing th e eig h tfo ld cycle, eac h Dru id wi ll develo p a personal pr ac tice that is su ited to th ei r need, a nd t heir circ u m sta n ces. T hi s will also c hange over t im e. One person m ay live on the ir ow n and h ave a good dea l or free time, whi le anothe r might have a young fami ly and wo rk lon g ho urs. One person may relate to D ruidry as a p h ilosop hy a nd devote m uch or th eir t ime to readi ng a nd st udy, whi le o thers wi ll want a more ha nds-o n experience - and wi ll spend thei r ti me co mm uning w ith Nat ure in the wood s and 0 11 t he land. So me peo ple like rit ua l, others find it d istr acting. So me like prayin g, read ing or meditat ing , o thers d on't ,

Here the novelist Barbara Erskine describe s how her discovery of Druidry led to a regular practice that combine s Druidism with her Ch ristian faith: Druidry acted as a change of focus for me; a personal reinterpretation; an altered attitude. It shone a beam of light into a monochrome landscape and reminded me

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of an ancient church where Celtic saints had called blessings onto rain-soaked hills, where St Kevin allowed a blackbird to nest on his hand, where Brighid was bo th goddess and saint, a church where Our Lady was also the Star of the Sea, a blessed feminine warmth which a more puritan faith had distanced. Ancient prayers took on deeper meanings for me. Now the Be nedicite read like a Celtic hymn. The Druidical circle of seasons was there within the liturgy, sacred geometry was there, though forgotten by most, as were the healing energies of stone and stained glass and the mysticism of ancient words. Historians and theologians may find the belief untenable but I like the idea of long -ago Druids segueing neatly with the changing focus of the heavens into a Celtic Christianity. It feels right. My prac tice of meditation evolved natura/ly back into one of reg ular prayer and though prayer can happen every- and any where I set up a small altar of my own again. In its ce ntre I have a beautiful stat ue made by a friend, of the B lessed Virgin, not a meek, mild obedient role model, but Quee n of Heaven, wi th crown and royal rob es. On her knee is the Christ child. At the fou r comers of the altar I have put symbols of earth, air, fire and wa ler. There is a Celtic cross there, and /lowe rs. So metimes I have incen se, sometimes meditation oils. S ometimes this is the centre of my Dru id rituals. I use it as a place to pray, to med itate and to listen. Unorth odox? Probably. Bu t it makes pe rfect sense to me.

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U V

.

Dru idry offers a wealth of tech niques - not on e single practice that must be performed regularly. O ut of this wealth each Dr uid can develop a practice that best suits them . So me people who lead bu sy lives may find tha t years go by when they simply gathe r with friends at each of th e eight festival tim es. and at other times occasionally meditate o r usc a D ru id divinatio n system , such as the Ogbl1m Tree Oracle or the Druid Animal Oracle, whe n try ing to gain insight in to part icu lar problem s. (While some D ru ids create their own o racles, these can also be purchased in puhlished form - sec Further Readin g Section on page 108). In cont rast, there will be those who feel the need for a daily practice. T hey will often create an altar in their homes or a sacred space in th eir garde ns in which they can perfor m a simple ritual to open their awareness to the sacred , to co nne ct

with the energies of Eart h, Trees, Sea and Sky. So me will then medi tate within the atmosphere created by the ritu al, others mig ht pray, or read devo tio nal mat erial, inspiring poe try or C eltic blessings for examp le, o r select a card from a D ruid di vinatio n system and medi tate on the guida nce offered by it. A wide range of ceremonies, medit ation s and tech niq ues arc available. The most valuable an d life-changing practice of all, though, evolves grad ually and simply as a d ifferent -way of being in the world . T hro ugh work ing with Druid teach ings and ceremo nies, changes occ ur in our attitudes, feelings an d beh aviour wh ich enab le us to live more an d more frequently in alignment with our sense of pu rpose and meaning, and with an awareness of the

inh erent spirituality of all life. T his may sound simp le, bu t the con sequences of achieving,

01'

of wo rking towa rds this state are

profound. We enter a beneficent cycle, in wh ich the more we express the core values of D ruidry, t he mo re we find these reflected back to us in the events and relationships in our life. As

I his

way of being evolves it beco mes possible to find those elusive qu alities of serenity and happin ess, and to be of service to III hers and th e wo rld aro und us. Here is what o ne practi tion er has to say abo ut her practice of I lru id ry: Eight times a year I stand in circle with my grove of friends and fellow Druids as we celebra te the wheel of th e year. As the seasons turn, so our circle mens. Our hands reach out and touch as the light grows in strength and as darkness takes a turn, to grow and recede. At the darkest point, the light returns, and at the brightest moment, darkness begins to grow. In darkness I loo k up to see the belt of Orion and his blue dog Siri us, or the Seven Sisters, and know I too am pan of their ancient story. When I celebrate the seaso ns, I find fellowship in the minera ], plant, animal and human community. For me the practice of Druidry is a way oflooking at life which allows a place for all. Step by stcp this has allowed me to in tcgrnr e many facets in my life story, to widen the circle of my self acceptance. I have developed a livelihood which has evolved from my Druid studies. I have a framework for poli rictl and social actions. My hope for the future lies in the resilience I have experienced in the natu-

ral world. Pilgrimage and Sacred Sites

In add ition to any practice a Drui d mig ht incorp o rate in to I heir everyday lives, the re may also be tim es when it seems impo rta nt to make a spec ial jou rney. T he call to go on a pilgrimage has been felt by peo ple of all spiritual t radi tions throu ghout histo ry. In times of crisis o r stag nat ion, or to mark special event s, o r simply in respo nse to an inn er urge, D ru ids

W HAT DD DRUID S DD ?

WHAT DO DRUID S DO ?

wi ll go o n pilgrimages. T his m ay be as sim ple as ta king a lo ng walk in their local lan dscape, in a sp irit of reverence and 'q uesting' - see king so lace o r inspiration no t sim ply in th e attraction s of the co u n tryside and th e physica l exercise, hut th rough th e process of wa lki ng co nsc io us ly o n th e sac red earth . A pilgrimage mi ght also be mo te am bitious, journeyin g perhaps to o ne of the old places - visiti ng ancesrral lands, travelling to the so ur cela nds of D ru id ry, sitti ng in sto ne circles, wal king th e o ld tracks. allowing o nes elf to d ream. to travel in time a nd space. and seek new d irectio n no t th rou gh ratio nal th ou ght. but th rough movi ng one's body in space an d time . and co n necting to so urces of power and spi ritual nou rishment . A spiri tua l path also ofTers the individual seeker a co mmu ni ty of fellow-travellers w ho a rc insp ired by the sa me ideas an d values. In D rui dry individuals o ften gather ill groups which arc kn o wn as groves, just as in Wieca they arc known as co ven s, and in C h rist ia n ity as co ng rega tio ns . A grove of D ruids may number ju st a few people or several d oze n o r m ore . They m ay m eet as ofte n as they w ish - usu all y o nce a fo rtnight or so . Together they enact ce remo n ies, cele b rate the festivals, and o rga n ize ca mps or jou rueys to sacred sites . T he In ternet e nables grove m e mbers to kee p in tou ch w it h each ot her in th eir ow n web-based for ums or by ema il. So me groves are affi liated wit h parti cul ar D ru id orders, ot he rs arc ind epe ndent w it h ind ividu al mem bers belo ngi ng to d ifferent 'o rd ers or non e at all. For those o rders wh ich ofTer in iti ati o ns, groves pro vid e th e perfect . co m m un ity (0 enact s uc h ceremo nies. Each grove will difTer in at m osphere. dep ending upon th e people invo lved, an d a ltho ug h th ey will have their ups and d own s. disagree me nts and sc hisms. as will any gro up, often a grovc develo ps a stro ng sense of tr ibal loyalty, o ffering support

to m embers in times of diffic ulty and p roviding a deep sense of m m panio ns hi p o n th e sp iritua l journey. Each of the ma jor turn ing poi nts in life is an in it iation in itself and is profo u nd ly sig n iflc.1nt, ph ysically, psycho log ica lly .rnd spiritua lly. Birt h, pu bert y or co rning into ad u lthood. marri.lge a nd dea th can all be experien ced as di fficult or tra umati c, or as ga teways into new rea lms of experience. Spiri tua l rraditio ns have always recognized th is. O ne of the problem s caused hy the increasin g secu larization ofso ciety is that these eve n ts arc often no lon ger set wi thi n a pro perly mea ningful co n text, when part of us yearns to honour these special time s in a spiritu al way. D ru id ry offers cerem o n ies for na m ing ch ild ren. wed dings .IIld fu ne rals. Some D rui ds arc develop ing rites for young peopl e to celebra te th eir transit io n in to ad ulthood. And ritu als Me being evo lved to mark the tim e of separatio n or di vorce, helping to release th e creative po tent ial of thi s moment ra ther th an leaving it u nmarked , to be remembered o nly as a time of diffi culty o r sad ness . .

74

EXCERPT FROM A MARRIAGE CEREMONY OF THE ORDER OF BARDS, OVATES AND DRUIDS

Druidess: All things in Nature are circu lar - nigh t beco mes day, day becomes night and night beco mes day again. The moon waxes and wanes and waxes again. There is Spring, Summer, Autu mn, W inter and then the Sp ring returns. These things are part of the Grea t Myster ies. Michael and Jane, do you bring your symbols of these Gr eat Mysteries of Life?

75

• • " ..... ,

"'v ..... v . ... v

... v .

Jane and Michael: W e do.

Druid: Do you swear upon the Sword of Justice" to keep sacred your vows?

Druid: Then before all present repeat these word s. Jane and Michael: W e swea r. Jane (facing Michael and handing him the ring): Accept in freedom this circle of gold as a token of my vows. Wit h it I pledg e my love, my strength and my friendship. I bring you joy now and for ever. I vow upon this Holy Earth that through you I honour all men.

Druidess: Then seal your promi se with a kiss. Druid: Beneficent Spirits and Souls of our Ancestors, accept the union of your children. Help them, guide them, protect and bless their home and the children born of their

Michael (facing Jane and handing her the ring) : Accept in freedom this circle of gold as a token of my vows. With it I

union. May their life together reflect the harmony of all life in

pledge my love, my strength and my friendship. I bring you joy now and for ever. I vow in the face of Heaven that through you I honour all wo men.

and times of hardship, know ing that they are truly blessed.

Jane: In the name of Brig hid" I bring you the warmth of my heart (Jane is handed a lighted taper by her mother or female participant).

its perfect union. May they work to gether in times of ease From this time forth you wa lk to gether along life's path; may your way be blessed." "N otes: Brig hid is an Irish goddess of healing, srnithcraft and poetry, Aengus mac Og is a god of love. Co uples may choose different god s or none. The Sword of Justice is a ceremonial swo rd symbo lic of King Arthur 's Excalibur. The

Michael: In the name of Aengus mac Oq" 1bring you the light of my love. (Michael is handed a lighted taper by his father or male participant). They both light a single cand le together. (This candle co uld be kept and relit at each anniversary.) All: May the warmth and the light of your union be blessed.

final blessing co mes from a Breton Druid ce remony.

9

Many a re sim p ly lists o f threes - th e th ree fairs o f Ireland , th e three forts o f Ireland , th e three ar de nt lovers o f th e island of Britain, and so on. BUl every so often, on e shines OUt with its wisdo m , d isplaying an almos t o riental sim plicity. H ere arc so m e exam ples from ea rly Irish and W elsh triad s:

Stories and Lore

There are three[oundations ofwisdom: discretion in learning,

We have co me so far that all the o ld sto ries whisper o nce mo re.

Robert Duncan

T he ritual used in th e rites o f passage and seaso na l ce remonies o f D ruidry is design ed to help parti cip ants experience a level of awa reness an d feeling tha t is rich er th an normal. In stead of co nveying just intellectual co ntent it uses symbol, metaphor and m ovem ent. A psych ologist wo uld say th at th is appea ls to the non -dominant hemisphere of the brain th at processes art and m usic as oppo sed to logic, lang uage a nd m ath em ati cs. A my stic wo u ld say th at ritu al o pc ns us to a n experience of th e spiri tua l dimen sion of life. In additio n to rit ual, Druidry makes use o f sto ries, aphorisms and lo re to co nvey much of its essential teachings. T he aphorisms te nd to foll ow a three-part pattern and ate kn own as 'Triads'. M any tr iads were origin ally used by ba rds as a mnemonic aid fo r rememhe ring and co mpos ing their poems and stories, bu t o the rs ate clearl y designed to stim u late enqu iry an d offer co unsel. In Ireland collectio ns of tr iad s can be fo u nd fro m th e nint h ce ntury, in Wales from th e thirteenth century.

memory in retaining and eloquence in te/ling. Three s;g1ls ofW;Sd011': patience, closeness, the gift of prophecy. l bree things hardfor a person to do completely: know themselves, conqller their appetite, and kt'ep their secret. Three counsels ofthe y ellow bird: do 1I0t grieve greilt/y about what bas happened, do not believe tohat cannot be, and do not desire tob at cannot be obtained. There are three springs ofknow{edge: reason, phenomenon and necessity. The three pillars ofachievement: a daring aim; [requenr practice, and plenty ofjizilures. Over the last two h undred years , and as a co nt inu ing tradi lion today, more tr iads have been created , and it is o ne of the I hallen ges fo r studen ts of Dru id ry to try creat ing th eir own . The an ima l, plant and tree lo re of the D ru ids has been devclupcd in th e mod ern era from a study of fol klore a nd literatu re. lhe Roman write r Plin y wrot e thar th e Dru ids revered fo ur plants pa rti cul arl y: ver vai n , selago (an eve rgreen cl u b m oss, probably heath cyp ress), sa mo lus (proba b ly m arsh wo rt ) and mistletoe. T he D ru ids to ld Plin y th at vervain sho uld be ga thIl'd

when Sirius is rising. when neither the sun

nor

the 11100n

.ui be see n in th e sky. H oney and honeycombs must be olTered III the earth, and th en the D ru id must d raw a circle wit h an iron

..... ... ... ... ... . ... - ....... ... im plem ent around the plant before p ulling it out of th e ground with rhe left hand and raising ir in the air. Then th e leaves, root and stem sho uld be separated and dried in th e shade . Today Druids use vervain as an incense, add it to a bath, place it on all altar or keep it in th e bed room to bring peace and protecti on !o th e ho me. It can also be drunk as a tea to lower fever and to clea nse th e kidneys and liver. Writings o n the Ogha m tree alpha bet o f th e D ru id s have helped to b ui ld a who le body of lo re assoc iared wit h tr ees. As a n exam ple, th e birch tr ee is known as th e 'pio neer tree' since it is ofte n th e first tree in th e natural crea tio n o f a for est. And so it is taken to represent birth, beginnings. newn ess and th e spi rit of pion eering. For th is reason it is co nside red au sp icio us if bi rch appears in a read in g whe n using Ogha m as a method of di vin atio n. Appropriatel y, birch was used to mak e bab ies' crad les. Sim ilarly, a body of animal lor e has evo lved, based on folklore and mythology, and th is, too, has been used to create a meth od of d ivination (see page III for details of animal and tree o racles). As an exam ple, a large a mo u nt o f fo lk w isdom has ga thered aro und the bee, ro such an exten t th at a n ad age fo ulld in tales fro m th e Sco ttish Hi gh lands runs, 'Ask th e w ild bee what th e D ru ids kn ew'. Bees are associated with the su n , wi th mead (used as a sac red drin k in Druid rituals) and with th e idea o f livin g and wo rking harmon iously together. • T he tr aditio nal pra ctice of throwing co ins in wishing wells can be tra ced back to th e time o f the anc ient C elrs, wh en wells an d sp rings we re co nside red sacred, a nd as places to co ntact the O the rwo rld . Today people still visit the holy wells o f C o rn wall nnd lreland and th row co ins in to the wells, saying pr ayers to 5t Brighid, the C h rist ian ized form o f th e Celtic godde ss Brigh id, wh o is revered by many D ru ids today.

~ !U ~ ! ~S

A ND LORE

81

A medieval tale ab out sac red wells offers a good exa m ple o f i hc way in wh ich modern Druids usc old sto ries to illu m inate I heir

understanding of life and feed their d esire for mythic nourishment. It is found in ' L'Eluc idario n', a n ano nymous p rologue to C h ret ien de Troyes' rwelfrh-ce nr u ry 'Con te del G raal'. The sto ry tells how tr avellers in Log res, also kno w n as Merlin's Enclos ure, o r th e Isle of Britain , wou ld pau se for refreshment beside the old sac red sp rings and wells th at co u ld he found thro ugh out the la nd . As th ey t ied the ir ho rses, or walked wear y from th eir journey to scat them selves beside the water, d am sels wo u ld ap pea r as if from th e O the rwo rld . W itho ut a wo rd th ey wo uld serve th e tr avellers with foo d a nd d rin k, drawi ng water from the wel ls to pour into go lde n ~o b lets.

The land flourished as if ir were a paradise on earth, u ntil th e day b lack clo uds gathe red ang rily in the sky and vio lent w inds tore the leaves and branches from th e trees. It was then that King Ama ngons arrived at a sacred well. As th e damsel of the waters handed him a goblet, filled to th e brim with th e purest of heal ing drau ght s, he looked first at her co mely fo rm, a nd then at the golde n vessel. Without a word he decided tha t both would become h is property, and he rook hold of th e dam sel, rapin g her besid e th e well, befor e riding back to his castle with bot h her and th e go b let in his possession . The kn igh ts of Am an gons, on seeing th e trophies of their king, rod e out inro th e co u nt ryside , rap ing th e women of th e wells and stealing th eir vessels wh erever th ey co uld find the m, unt il none were left to susta in tr avellers a nd pre serve th is .uicienr tradition . From this mom ent , the land was struck by drou gh t. It becam e a wastel and that co u ld on ly be restored to lcrriliry wh en the H oly G rail was found . As th e origina l sto ry ,.'ys: 'T he Kin gdom was turned to loss, th e land was dead and

0'

~ I U t(l t: ~

A I'l U L Ut
desert as that it wa s scarce worth a co uple of hazel -nuts. For they lost th e voi ces of the wel ls and the damsels that we re th erein .' Althou gh over eigh t hundred years old , thi s story speaks to the modern mind with an uncanny urgen cy. echo ing our co n cern s abou r the rap e of th e bi osphere a nd o f the resul ti ng wastel and that we arc creating around us,

10 Learning Druidry

Training in the bardic tradition is where new seekers begin

by

learning how to listen and truly hear the voic e o f the spirit, and so to recover the ancie nt so ngs and stories nature.

or the an cest or s and

Philip Shallcross and Emma Restall O rr, A Druid Directory

Druidry as an Individual Path Some peopl e arrracred to D ruidism jo in a group o r OHler to further their stud ies or sp iritual d evelopment. Many more sim ply begin to ad opt Druid beli efs and p ractices becau se th ey find Ihat they reflect feelin gs and beliefs th ey alread y hold abo ut life, When they read o r hear abour D ru id ism they expe rien ce a sense of familiarity - as if they knew these id eas alread y, and Ihey just needed to hear th em fu lly art iculated from the 'o ut,.ide· to reco gnize what they already knew 'inside'.

D ruidism pla ces g reat em ph asis o n respecting each individ -

u.il's spiritual integrity, so there are no practi ces whi ch m ust be f" llowed in order to be co ns idered a Druid, T he re is no sense of

O~

LEAR NI NG DRUIDRY

obligat ion to celebrate ever yo ne of th e eight festi vals. for exam ple. Being a D ru id or foll owing th e wa y of Dru id ism . is at heart an a tt it ude of mind . b roadl y ba sed upon th e beli efs already ou tlined . that seeks th e develo pme nt and expre ssion of love. creativity and wisdom. H ow each pers on cho oses to live fro m th is fun dament al attitude towards life is the choice an d responsib ility o f tha t ind ividu al. and no o ne else. So me choose to treat Druid ism as the ir religio n as well as the ir phi losop hy o f life. O the rs choos e to pr actise a d ifferent religi o n . suc h as C h ristian ity. Bud d hism or W icca. w h ile still hold in g to the co re beliefs and prin ciples o f Druidism . T hose who fo llow Druidry wi tho ut he ing affiliated wit h an y parti cu lar gro up. usually build th eir p ractice and fo llow th eir stud ies th rou gh reading boo ks. browsing the Web . and perhaps th rough attend ing work sho ps o r retreats, o r participating ill o n line discussio n foru ms. W h ile thi s approach is ap pea ling since it allows Ilexihility, ma ny people find th at th ey need " more struc tured approach. o r sense the need fo r so me so rt o f

guidance in their spiritual practice and studies. For ( !t O M' people. a number of hom e-study co u rses and tr ain in g p ro gra m mes now exist. U nt il 1988 the o nly way that yo u co uld fo llow a cours e o f study in D ruid ry, or trai n in it as a sp iritua l practice. was to fin d a reacher to learn directly from. T h is meant th at o nly a very small nu m ber o f people followed Druidism. 1'01 example I know o f o nly two teachers who were training peop l in Brita in in the 1970" Ross N icho ls and T ho mas M augh an. To day a nu mber of home-study co urses exist. and these C U I be exp lored th rou gh th e co ntacts sugg este d in the Rcsou nrv and Co ntacts sectio n. D iscrim inatio n is needed. since !1ow ad:lp anyone with a home co mputer can set up a co urse and offer II on th e In ternet . The best way to find a cou rse th at sui ts you " to take time to read th e in trod uctory mat erial thorough ly. II

85

yo u arc using the internet to research a Co u rse, find OUt abo ut th e organ izatio n offering it . If th ey have a message board or

Internet for um yo u could browse that for a whi le. too . to p ick up th e a tmosphe re. alt ho ug h only cert ain ki nd s of people use message boards, and o n their own they canno t be taken as co m. plet ely representative of a g ro up. C o m m on sense co m bined with in tui tion an d d iscrimi nat ion sho uld gu ide yo u to the co urse that is right for YOIl. The im porta lll thi ng to rem em ber is that following such a co urse. if it is to be more tha n sim ply the intellectual study of a subject. will have an effect o n yo ur sp iritual a nd psych ol ogi_ cal life. so yo u need to feel co m fo rta ble with it. and with bein g .lSsociated with th e o rgan i7-'ltion th at offe rs it. You'lI find th at most d istan ce-learning teaching is offered not by an individu al. but by an 'o rd er'. T his helps to avoid a person ali ty cult devel oping aro und any particular reache r, T he term 'orde r' is der ived from th e tra d ition of m agical orders of d ie nin eteenth cel1tury.23 ra ther tha n from the idea of C hristian rdigio us orders. T he great ad val1tage in taking a home-lea rn ing co urse is that vou can choose th e dep th o f engage men t that su its yo u. You III.ry start wit h a ten tati ve exp lorat io n o f th e subjec t. then grad II "IIy ope n yo urself to a d eeper illvolvemel1t with the exercises lid ideas p resenred , con fiden t in the kn owledge th at yo u C1n I aside s uch a Course at any time . I li stan ce learning has man y ad val1tages: yo u ca n follow a 111ll'SC at yo ur Own pace, yo u can study w herever you arc in the

\\

86

LEARNIN G DRU IDRY

ph ysically, not virtua lly. T hey kn ow tha t th ey lea rn best wh en intera cting with o thers; and there is a tremendo us appeal in th e id ea o f findin g a sp iritua l teach er wh o can directl y and perso nally help us in o ur quest for w isdo m and sp iritua l development . D ru id ry is not a sp iritua lity th at is co nvey ed by 'g u rus' who require th e dcvori on of discip les who must acce pt their every wo rd. Instead it is tau ght by th ose wh o a rc th em selves seekers o n a path whi ch is bein g co ntinually d eveloped . Mall Baker, th e founder a nd head teach er o f a schoo l in Arizona th at foc uses o n the c reative arts, writ es:

For me the D ruid path is a means to create a healthy balanced self in which the higher realizatio ns of spiritual development can he brought down and iurcg mtcd into the personality. T he last fort y YCOl f S o f spiritual experimentation in the West has brought many examples or gurus that obviously had so me kind ofspiritual realizat ion , but whose 1110ral develo p ment and cha racrer were not of a level that was help ful to their co mmunity. Druidry doc s not produce these kinds of gurus. It produces leaders. artists. healers. and spiritual reach ers. who even if they arc charismatic in personality. defer to the innerwisdom of rhe tradition and the inner teacher in (heir fellow D ruids as being the real source of truth. In the end , for m e, Druidry has been a practical path that em br aces the wo rld view that life is evolving. the soul is immortal, and we and our fellow creatures arc all pan

of the divine sacred process that is and has been unfolding around us and through LIS since time began. Even th ough D ru id ry is not tau gh r by 'g u rus' . peo pl e drawn to teac hing roles arc not immune from the need for a rrenrio n, ap proval and affectio n, a nd rhere is always th e possibili ty rhar a particular teacher's unresolved emo tional issu es might result in

LEARNI NG DRUIDRY

87

them co nsciously or unconsciously manipu lating O f ex plo iting th eir studen ts, T he f.1 m iliar way ofexpressing thi s idea is to caurio n that thei r ego mi ght get in th e way of rheir teaching. Fro m a student's po int of view. th e o n ly safeg uard is th eir co m mo n sense, intuition and abili ty to be di scriminating. Ar th e present rime th ere are few teach ers o f D ru id ism. a nd the likelihood of find in g on e close to yo u m ay well be remote. If you do co me across one, ask th em lot s ofquesti on s: how th ey train ed in D ruidism . how long th ey have been stud ying. w ha t their aims and inten tion s are, and more. Listen carefully to their replies and be ca utio us if yo u sense pomposity, evasion. f.1 nt asy o r delusion . A sp iritual reacher sho uld di spl ay th e cha ract eristics of naturaln ess, humility and hum our a, well as the q ualit ies of d epth . ser io usnes s and integ riry. Ra th er th a n finding an individual Dru id reacher to lea rn from . yo u arc m o re likely to he able to find a gro up, wh ich is eithe r affiliated to a D ruid o rder o r wh ich fun ct ion s independently. H ere yo u will p rob abl y find a strong sense ofco m m u nity. and a gro u p of people wh o eac h have so met h ing to reach yo u abo ut D ru id ism . O ne o r mo re m em bers of the gro up m ay have a strong person ality and new m em bers m ay place the m o n a ped estal for a whi le. Over time. th ou gh. th e st ar-st ru ck newcomer will usu ally become awa re of th e weaknesses as well as the strengt hs ofany dom ina nt personality in the gro up, and wi ll th en co m e to appreciate tha t follow ing th e D ruid pa th d ep ends upon our becoming more self-reliant rat her th an less so. W he th er you learn from a co urse. a reach er or a gro up. there ix o ne other so urce of learning that it is vital to draw upon . Druid ism is based up on a love o f Na tu re - to suc h an extent rhar it is so me ti me s called a Na ture o r Ea rt h religion. D ru ids view Nature as a perpetual so urce o f ph ysica l and sp iritual nourishment, which can teach us as well as inspire us.

W hat we learn from the natural world may be intellectual gained from the observation of animals, plants and the weather for example. O r it may be subtler - the kind of learn ing that deepe ns the soul and which cannot be ration ally explained, that co mes from sleeping o ut under the stars, medi tating in a cave or

11

conte mp lating a river or the ocean. Both kind s of learning arc needed in order to follow th e D ruid way, and any training in D ruidry needs to be firm ly gro unded within this wider schoo l of experience.

The Practical Value of Following Druidi sm

What attrac ts people to Druidism is wha t has attracted people (Q all forms of mystery schools throughout the :tgcs. It is the search for greater understanding, for deeper expe riences, and for

communion with the god/Jess or Higher Self within. They turn ro the no urishment and support of the age-old W' lyS, which reach thar we arc nor sepa rate from Na ture, but part o f ir.

Da niel Hansen. American Druidism

Orient at ion a nd Direction Life in the mod ern world can be a confusing experience and there arc so many ways in wh ich we can be distracted and disoriented . O ne of th e great advantages of following a spir itual path lies in its ability to ofTer a sense of or ientation and direction . A co re belief in D ruidry is that we are meant to be on Earth , and that we should focus on being here now, rath er than focusing on an 'exit strategy' to escape the illusion of the world, or ensure our place in Heaven. T his belief provides us with a strong sense of belon gin g in th e wo rld, and a feeling of

so

THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF FOLLOWING ORU IOISM

THE PRACTI CAL VALU E OF FOLLOW ING ORU IDISM

participation in life rath er th an isolation or d etachment from it. T his o rientation opens the way for us to exper ience th e qu alities of co m m u n ity, trust, responsibi lity, empowe rme nt and

of wisdo m in the old Irish tales, the q uest for th e th ree d rop s of Awen (In spirati on ) in the Welsh stoty ofTaliesin, and th e q uest for the Holy Gra il in its many d ifferent versio ns all powerfully evoke th e excite ment and adve nt ure of th e spi ritual qu est. In each of th ese three myth s, inspirat io n is soug ht - and found. We need inspiration in our lives to help generate a sense of awe and wonde r, and to give us ideas and energy. The q uest for it is central to D ruidry, and in the T.11e of Talicsin, it is depicted as an elixir, called Awen. Much of Dr uid practice is co ncerned with stim ulating the flow of Awen in our lives: the wo rd is chanted o r sung in ce remo nies to attract insp iratio n to us, and ritu al, med itation and storytelling are all desig ned to

in tegri ty. In addi tio n to this purposeful sense of being in th e world , D ruid ry enco urages th e d evelopm ent of a sense of 'p resence' , and of being 'grou nded' and 'cent red' in o ne's body and in th e wor ld . It docs this by wo rking with th e circle and th e directio ns in ritu al and meditati on . A circle is cast eithe r pb ysically with a wand or hand , or in the imaginati on, and then each of the four card inal direct ions arc faced and greeted. So metimes a further two d irections arc acknowled ged: above and below. T hen th e centre is acknow ledge d. T h is simple series of actio ns has the eflccr of reinfo rcing o ur aware ness of bein g in th e worl d, and gives LIS a strong se nse of orientatio n. We need to know whe re we are, bu t we also need to know where we arc go ing. Druidry aims to provide us with a sense of d irect ion as well as o rientation. Its main goa ls - the cultivatio n of W isdom , Love and C reativity - p rovide D ruids wit h a powerful sense of pu rpose. W ithi n th ese b road aims many related goa ls and d irect ions can be pu rsued. Fo r exam ple, a Druid work ing towa rds the cultivatio n of thei r creativity may set their sights on learni ng to play the harp, o r on raking writing classes. Another D ruid, working o n the cultivation of Love, may decide to focus on develo ping the ir love of trees, by spend ing time in the forest, getti ng to kno w and relate to each species there . Having too man y goa ls can be a distractio n in itself, but by ofTering the three b road goals of Love, W isdo m and C reativit y, D ru idry aims to give each D ruid sufficient directi on to gener ate a se nse of purpose, and wi th th is co mes e nt h usiasm , cur iosity and a sense o f adve nt ure. The myths it uses as source material are steeped in th ese qu alities. T he qu est for th e salmo n

ql

stim ulate its flo w.

Belief in Awen comes fro m the understandi ng th at th ere is more to life than the wo rld of ap pearances, and that inspi ration - idea s, energy, messages - can enter o ur hearts, mi nds and bodi es fro m so urces beyon d us. T hese sources may emanate from the wo rld of nature, o r from ot her beings - ancestors, natu re spirits, spir itual guides . and Deity or de itie s. Many peopl e, when they experi ence inspirat ion, sense it as a flow of energy whic h is so mehow ' im perso nal' or 'transpersonal'. They arc often astonished at the creative result s when th ey learn how to 'get o ut of the way' and let thi s inspiratio n flow. In ad di tion to learning how to cultivate Awen, Dru ids also seck to develo p the flow of Nwyfre in their bodies. Nwyfre is I he life fo rce th at flows thro ugh the Universe. Nature is th e great source of this ene rgy, and Dru ids seck to cu ltivate Nwyfre by spend ing time o utdoors, co m muning wit h what they sense .IS the great primal fo rces of earth, rain, wi nd, sun , I110CHl and stars. W hi le Awe n brings creative energy and inspi ration to o ur

heart s and m inos, Nwyfre b rin gs energy and healt h to our bodi es.

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TH E PRAC TIC A L VA LUE OF FOLLOWING DRU ID I SM

THE PRAC TIC A L VAL UE OF FOL LOW ING DRUIDI SM

However successful we may be in life, and however effective . we might be in IInding Awen and Nwyfre, events sometimes occur which can leave us in real need of support. A loved on e might d ie or leave us. Illness or some other difficult y might occur, and sudde nly all the good health and creative inspiration we may have gathered can seem scattered to th e four winds, leaving us bereft and suffering. A test of the value of a spiritual path lies in the degree to which it is able to offer support in such circu mstances. A spirituality needs to offer us a sense of comm unity that we can tu rn to in times of need, and as D ru id ry grows in popularity such a co mm unity is develop ing - all over the world. T hose lucky eno ugh to have a grove of Druids nearby arc able to tu rn to them for support. Although it is much harder for those who arc

gain access to so urces of support and nourishment fo r the so ul

iso lated , the Internet can pro vide a sense of co m m unity, as

many of the participants of D ruid Intern et forums have found. In add ition to a sense of community, we also need wise coun sel when we are living th rough difficult tim es. Th is may be provided by fellow D ruids, but it can also be found in Druid tea chings and writings whi ch have as th eir aim th e fostering of wisdom , love and a creat ive engage me nt with life and its d ifficulties. W hen we are goi ng th rou gh a di fficu lt ti me, advice and insight from friends and from books can be a great help. But so met ime s not hing they ca ll tell us seems to relieve our suflering. It's as if the crisis is making us turn within - to go deeper than our surfa ce persona lity to try to lind some mea ning in our pro blem. Dr uids believe th at we have a soul, o r inn er spiritua l Self, th at is wiser th an our everyday person ality, and that we can receive guida nce from this part of ourselves if we learn how to still the outer mind. O ne of the pu rposes of tra ining in D ruidry is to do this: to

93

that exist beyond the reach of our everyday personalities _ either deep within us or in the O therworld, where we can receive inspiration, gu idance, healing and cou nsel. Being of Value to O the rs a nd the World Druidism docs no t enco urage us to focus excl usively o n o ur

own spiritual develop men t. Dr uids care deeply about the state of the wo rld - abou t the suffering of humans and an imals, and of Mother Earth. T he bel ief that many Druids hold in the imp ortance of peace, and in the principle of ' harmlessness', influences their actions profoundly, and mos t Dr uid s arc invo lved in initi atives to pro tect the cnvironme nt. Some may

simply cont ribute to Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth. Ot hers may be more actively invo lved in try ing to protect certai n species or habitats. Most will support tree-p lanting and reforestat ion projects, and the maxim 'think globally, act locally' has been take n to heart by many D ruid s, who are involved in local comm unity initiatives to prote ct and im prove the environm en t.

DRU IDRY IN THE FUTURE

12 Druidry in the Future

T he approaching transformation requires people, groups. and com munities to be ready to preserve legacies for the future, so

that as the vast tot tering structure

orindustrial civilization

co mes apart. seeds ca n be planted that wilt hear fruit in times to

come. I suggest that the D ruid commu nity prepare itself to fill that role, and to save and plant those seeds.

John Michael Greer. Druidry aud the f'i,tur~ 24

Towards the end of the rwcnricrh cent ury D ruidism moved out of the shadows of obscurity, and began to take its place amo ngst the ranks of seriously conside red spiritual rr:{ditions. Un til then it had existed on the margins of acceptance becau se there was a lack of understanding of its histo ry. iden tity and poten tial value. 'C ritics argued that it was an inv en ted traditi on since an

un bridgeable chasm of over a thou sand years separa ted ancient D ruids from th e Revival D ru ids of the seventeenth an d later cent uries. 1010 Morgan wg had fabricared mo st of the material used by the fratern al and cultural D ruids, and tho se who were trying to practise a Druidism that offered a path of spiritual development were in reality simply combining the work ofl olo

95

with material from a variety of wo rld religions and esote ric traditions. But from the 1960s D ru ids began tur ning to different sources of inspiration - in particular C eltic stud ies and archetypal psychology. Some, espec ially in America, have rejected the previou s few centur ies of Revivalism as aber rant and have tried to create a D ruid ism based solely up on histori cal aut hen ticity. O thers , mostly in Britain , have at tempted to incorp orate new material, while retaining eleme nt s of the D rui d Revival that they feel arc effective, arguing that many spiritual tradi tions and varieties of religion arc of recent o rigin, and we re in trodu ced with 'creatio n myths' that were less t ha n accurate hisrorically.-? By doin g th is, a process of reclaiming histor y has begun whi ch is set to accelera te in th e co m ing years. As Revival Druidry is explored , rath er than weakening its claim to be authentic, D ru idism is likely to develop an even stronger sense of trad ition and pride in its heritage. T his will und o ub tedly be help ed by a majo r five-year study of th e last three hund red years of D ruid ism, du e for co mpletio n in 2008. fund ed by the govern me nt's Arts and Human ities Research Board, which is bein g car ried ou t by th e histor y dcp ar trn cn r of Bristol University. This process of streng theni ng a sense of tradi tion is likely 10 co ntinue in ano ther area which has' attracted criticism in the

past: the association between modern-day Druids and sto ne circles. Alth ough the re is no historical evidence that th e D ruids built megalithi c monumen ts, the facr is that mod ern Druids love sto ne circles and like to perform ceremo nies in them . For the last lWO hundred years th ey have been creat ing them and celebrating in them . In Wales stone circles arc often built for the Eisteddfod celebrations, and o ne of the most well-kn own examples of a mod ern circle stands in a field used each year for the

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DRU IDRY I N THE FUTURE

DRUI DRY IN TH E FUTURE

G lastonbury music festival. T ho ugh some D ru ids (and their critics) co nrinue CO de ny the validity of th is by-n ow trad itional

poli tical radicals and non -conformists. As the enviro nment al and economic challenges that face the wo rld become increasingly urgent, we need sp iritual approaches that encourage a social co nscience and th e audacity to rhink rad ically. W ith its history of thinkers who have champio ned social an d econom ic justice it is not surprisi ng that Druidry today att racts environ men tal activists an d soc ial reformers, and this trend is likely to co nt in ue. Aut hor Brenda n Myers focuses on the value of D ru id ry in his Dangerous Religion - Environmental Spirituality IlIId Its Activist Dimension, John M ichael G reer, C hief of the Ancient Order ofDruidsin America, has begun to speak openly about the serious difficulties the wo rld will face when the supply o f o il ru ns out,27 and anti-globalizat ion cam paigners draw inspi ration from a spiritual traditio n that has championed rad ical app roaches to injustice - from the days when Dr uid leaders supported the C hart ists to modern times whe n Dr uids support

se

act ivity, mo st enjoy it.

It is also possible that the fut ure may prove that their spiri tual forebears did indeed huild circles, since some academi cs arc now poi nt ing to a new sense of co ntinuity in the genet ics and

cu lture of the British, wit h the rejection of th e idea of a C eltic ' invasio n' th at introduced D ru idism a th ousand years after the last circles had been built. T his school of thou gh t makes it possible co see th e D ruids as the pr iests and priestesses of these ancie nt monumen ts, a tende ncy reinforce d

by the

inc reasing

recognition of the importa nce of ritual astronomy in their co nstructio n.

Recently, Professor Rona ld H utto n has written : In building their case against modern Druid ry, [the archaeo lo -

gists] Kendrick, l'iggon, Atkinson and Daniel all made great play wit h the fact that ancient Dru ids co uld no lon ger be definitely credited either with building the monument or with officiating within it. They were, however, scrupulo us eno ugh to reco gn ise two d ifficulties. T he first is that prehj stor jans have so

Iar been unable to determine how far contin uities of religious tradit ion and practice did or did ncr exist through the periods between the Neolith ic and the Iron Age . T he seco nd is that . there is so me evide nce fo r activi ty in and around Ston ehen ge du ring

d 1C

Iro n Age itself. It may be tha t, w het her o r not

modern Dru ids eve r make a sign ificant reappea rance at the

mo nument, ancient Druids co uld yet be f.1 tcd to do so. 26

Research into the recent histo ry of D ru idry is likely to shed furt her light o n many of the outsranding figures in the Dru id •movem ent over th e last three hu ndr ed years who have been

env ironmental and road-protes t campaigns.

Dr uidry's radical stance extends to the po litics of the body and sexuality. For at least three generations significant Dru id leaders in England have supported the cause of Na turism believing that nudism can bri ng one into closer contact wit h Natu re.28 Mo re recently, in Ame rica, some Dru ids have pointed to the ancient C elts' accepta nce of mul tiple sexual relatio nshi ps to advocate the pract ice ofpolyamory'i-" Not all Druids would accept that being naked or no n-monogamo us is connected with D ruidism, bu t a liberal and toleran t spirit cha racter izes the mod ern Druid, and it is unlikel y that they wo uld be upset by the practice of either activity amo ngst co nsenting ad ults. Despite the genera lly to lerant at mo sp here in whic h most D ruidry is co nd ucted , there can be strong d ifferences of op inion - expressed either th rough Intern et message boards or in discussion. T hose who treat Druidry as a nco-Pagan religion can

DRUI DRY IN T HE F UT URE

DRU IDR Y I N T il E F UT URE

find it hard to understand how anyo ne can foll ow bot h Druid ism and C h ristianity. T hose who reject the cont ribut ion s of Revival Druidism and strive towards an approach whi ch is called ' C el tic Reconstructi onism' ca n be baffl ed as to wh y so meo ne mig ht want to recit e a prayer th at was most likely fabricated in the eighteent h cent ury. T hose who find no need 10 include concep ts o f deity or d eities in their spiritu al life can find it hard to em pathize with th e approa ch of a Druid who perfo rm s devot ionals to specific deiti es. So me D ru id s are attracted to the idea of Druidi sm as a Universalist phil osophy th at sees th e com monalities in all faiths, wh ile others find this alien, and seek instead to p ractise D ruid ry as a magical craft or phil osoph y which is specific rather than un iversal. D ruids in Britain view with bcmuscm enr American an cmpts to construct a religion that bases itself o n a chu rch mod el, com plete with legal registration as a ch urch, pages of by-laws and clergy-training progra m mes, since part o f Druid ry's appeal for them lies in its dissimil arity to th e ch urc h, and its avoida nce of regulation s a nd di srincrion s between cle rgy a nd laity. So me Ame rica ns in the ir turn find British D ru idry odd ly un structure d and laisscz-faire. For th e most part each d ifferent approach to D ru id ry simply go!o=s about its busin ess without paying to o much atte n tio n to th e othe r ap proa ches. Fraterna l and cultural druids exist in separate wo rlds, and th e C eltic Rccon srru cti on isr and Am erican religiou s groups generally ign ore the majo rity of Briti sh publ ica tio ns and grou ps a nd vice versa, perh ap s o u t of tacit disapp roval of each other's approa ches, perhaps because they are just b usy eno ug h as it is. An interesting project for the future ,wo uld be to bring togeth er th ese di fferent viewpo ints to explo re the ir co m mo nalities and differen ces. T here are strong p recedents for such a project. O ver th e last

fifteen years a number o f d ialog ues have been ini tiated to explore commo n grou nd and m iscon cep tion s. T he wid espread belief that D ru id ism is patriarchal or suitable only for men has been su bstantially eroded thanks to wo me n's involvem ent in Druidry. Wom en now lead groups, write books o n fem ini ne perspectives in the tradition , and form over half th e membership of most Druid gro ups. Unt il recently both C h ristians and Wi ccan s o fte n felt that D ru idry was alien to the m. But a number of C h ristian and Dru id co nfe rences host ed by an An glican and a C at ho lic p riest in th e early 19 90 s, and a C h rist ian, Wi ccan and D ru id co nferenc e held in 19 96 has helped to build br idges. A type o f p ractice, term ed D ruid'Crafi, that co mbines D ruidry and W icca (also known as 'the C raft') has evolved, and C h ristians who also filllow Dru idism as a sp iritual path have begu n to speak up - writing articles and creating . webpages.30 D ruidrys strength lies in its inclusivity and its tolerance of d iversity. Just as Nature is genero us and biod iversity is a sign of hcalrh, so in the worlds of culture and spirituality di fferences of opi nion create a healthy and exot ic environment , with th e pot ential for th e cross-fertilization o f ideas. Druidry is nOI sim ply Paganism , or religion o r ph ilosophy - it can be each o f th ese th ings and ot hers besides. Not everything in the world of D ruid ry is rosy, however. One can find a streak of racism in certa in min or and dwindling expression s of th e tradition . T hese suggest th at only 'Celts' can genui nely follow th e way of th e D ruid, and in Fra nce have becom e assoc iated with nation alist movements and right-w ing politi cs. Such app roaches ign ore the latest researches in genetics and culture whi ch show th at Celticism is a cultura l and not a racial definition , and ignore too th e fact th at altho ugh D ruidry origin ally eme rged o u t of a tr ibal co n text in the lands we now

98

99

DRUID RY IN THE FUTURE

DRUIDRY I N THE FUT URE

conside r C eltic, its revival in th e modern era has allowed it to spread and flower in a way th at makes it accessible to all people regardl ess o f th eir c ultura l o r eth nic or igins. Unl ike Native American or Australian aboriginal traditions which are practised by indi gen ou s cultures, Druidry has evolved as a spiritual p roject of th e western Euro pea n imaginati on th at bases itself on C eltic myth ology and lore, but it is not a tribal practice th at has been handed down th rou gh th e genera tions. What it loses in rom antic appeal because of thi s, ir gains in its universal appeal and relevan ce to th e co nte m po rary situation. It is sim ply m isguided and selfish to atte mp t to confine irs practi ce to o ne type of person. Another un attracti ve side o f Druidism can be found in some tru ly awful books th ar have been publ ished in rhe last few years. T hese range from a m isogynistic F.m tasy that pretends to convey ancient kn owledge, to a titillati ng manual o n gro up 'sex magic' writte n by someone who claim s descent from a lineage of Welsh D ru ids. Bad books and racists are than kfully in the min or ity. In the last fifreen years th e qu an tit y of publications o n D ruid ry has soared. Prior to 1990 th e p robl em was finding a single hook or art icle on th e subject. Now the probl em liesin cho osing wh ich o ne to read . There arc in- ho use journals of D ru id gro u ps in English, D utch and French and The Druids' Voice magazine, publish ed by the Briti sh D ru id O rde r, has a broad publ ic

benefi ted th ousand s of spiritual seekers over the years, but it has also limited D ruid ry's appea l. Many peopl e want to practise a Nature spi ritua lity wi tho ut th e restri cti on s they fed such a struc ture implies. An 'order' seems to th em o ld-fas hioned, wit h religiou s overto nes. Even thou gh many o rde rs are far fro m being old-fashioned and instead encourage non -conformity and ecce ntricity. by their very nature they require a co mmitme nt and a d esire ro join a group th at man y peopl e do not have. Ju st as orders have th eir place in a number o f tradition s - including the C h rist ian, Buddhist and Sufi - so th ey will undoubtedly co nt in ue to exist in Druidism . But D ruidry's greatest challenge in th e futu re will be to find ways o f expression th at o ffer an alternative to thi s trad itional struc ture. Attem pts to create thi s have already begun : the Druid Ne twork was launched in 2003 to provide a new way of presenting and uniting Druids, relyin g so lely on th e Internet. And in 2005 rhe Avalon C o llege of Druidry was founded in th e USA with th e intention of creating a university specializing in D ruid stud ies. It may well be the next generation tha t evolves other forms th ar speak to th e needs of an ever-wide ning circle of spiritual seekers. C ertainly th e next gene ration will see th e first substa ntial amoun t o f peopl e in m od ern times atta ini ng ad ulthood wh o have been raised with D ruid values, beliefs and p ractices. T hey will have inh erited a spiritual path ideally suited to th e era th ey will be living in: an enviro nmental spirituality th at che rishes all life on Eart h, and th at seeks to preserve and prot ect it for th e ben efit of all bein gs.

100

readership. T he rapid growth of D ruid ism in th e last few d ecad es is likely to com inue as th e environ menta l crisis deepens, as ch urch attenda nces declin e a nd as alternative ap proaches to spiritua lity receive more attent ion. Most Druidry is co nveyed th rou gh th e str uc ture o f 'o rde rs' - grou ps th at see th emselves as Mystery -Schoo ls or teac hing o rganizations, T his typ e o f struc tu re has

101

NOTES

Notes

Personal comm unication. International Grand Lodge of Dr uidi sm, Jul y 2005 . 2 Hutton, Ro nald . • Witch", Drtlids and KingArthur', H arnblcdo n & London, 200 3, 1" 258. 3 'American Rel igious Idemificarion Survey', by the Gradu.uc

C en ter of th e C ity Univers ity of New York, at htt p:// www.gc. cuny.co ll 4 In 2002 the UK's Pagan Federation estimated th e num ber of UK Pagans to be between 50,000 an d 200,000. 38 ,000 people declared themselves as Pagan in the 200 I Census of Population, makin g it th e eigh th most popular faith ill Britain . 5 Bonew its, Isaac, The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors. Hunters, and

Drummers. Citadel Press, 200 5, 1'. 11. 6 Emai l to author, April 200 5. • 7 C aesar, Jul ius, De Hello Gallic», VI, 13-1 8. 8 Ni cho ls, Ross, 71Je Book o[ Druidry: History. Sites and Wisdom. • T horson s, 1990. 9 Although the majority of cultura l and frate rnal DruiJry was

p ractised by the Welsh and El1glish resp<:ct ively, cultural Druidism didspread in the early twentiet h century [0 Brittany and Cornwall.

and fraternal Oruidry worldwide. 10 T he process of hecoming interested in Celtic sources began under th e chiefta insh ip of Robert M acG regor Reid, bur Ross N ichols intensified and develo ped it. ,11 Prescott, Andrew. 'The Voice Conventional': D ruidic Myths ami Freemason ry, http://www.shef.a c.uk/ -crf/ papers/ d ru id .h tm.

103

12 Australi a, De nmark, Finland, Ge rmany, Iceland, No rway, th e Ne the rlands, New Zea land, Sur inam, Sweden, Switzerland , th e UK and th e USA. 13 'J'ho ugh cultural Druids wereconsiderably embarrassed when, in th e 19 505, Dr G. J. Williams provided conclusive evidence of 1010's fraud . 14 A'i an example, Charles G raves, the grandfather of Robert Graves whose book The White Cor!deSS\or.to; seminal in the revival of inrerest in Goddess worship and Paga nism, was an experton the Ogham tree alphabet, and on early Irish law. He initiated a Royal Commission to transcribe and tra nslate this treasure trove of informa tion, which was published in six volumes between 186 5 and 1901. 15 Berresfo rd Ellis, Peter, 71J( Druids, C o nstable, 1994, PI" 96- 7 . 16 Kinsella, T homas, The Tain, Do lmen Press, Dublin, 1969 . 17 Email to author from Prof. Ronald H u tto n, 28 September 2004 . 18 See, for example, M ichael Newton, jourllty o[Souls: Case Smdies o[Lift Between Lives, Llewellyn, 1994. 19 Gard ner. Gera ld, TheMeaning ofWitchcmfi, Aquarian Press, 19 59. 20 Geogmphica, IV, 4 , 197- 8 (trans. W. D ina n, qu oted in Joh n Matthews (cd .), 77" Druid Source Book. Bland ford, 1997, 1" 18). 2 1 Myers, Brendan, Dilngert}1tS Religion: Environmental Spirituality dnd Its Activist Dimension, Earth Religions Press, 2003. 22 Excerpted and adapted from Internet article 'T he Brehon Laws: Defi ning Ethics and Values for Modern D ruid ry'. by Athe lia Ni ht scada , at www.dr u idnctwork.org 23 Starring wit h 'The Hermetic Order of th e Go lden Dawn'. 24 From an In tern et ar t ic le at http: / / www. ao da.o rg/an iclcs/ Druidr y.lum. 25 Examples of movem en ts whose o rigin myths have been proved historically inaccurate, and whose practices an d teachings have been created within the last two hundred years include Mormonism, T heosophy, Rosicrucianism and Wicca. 26 From th e jou rna l British Archaeology, Sum mer 200 5. 27 Sec Druidry and the Future - An Opm Letter to the Druid Community by John Michael Greer o n www.auda.org/a rticles/ Druid ry.htm.

104

NOTE S

28 See t he essay 'C lo thed wit h th e Sky - A Sp iritual Form of Na turism withio Dr oidry' at http://www.dru idry.org, 'The Druid Tradition', under 'Naturism', 'Skyclad Druidry'. 29 Ellison, Robert, 71" Solitary Druid, C itadel Press, 20 05. 30 Sec the section entitled 'Christians & Druids' under 'The Druid Trad ition' at www.d ru idry.org.

Glossary

Alban Arrhan - th e D ru id fest ival of the W inte r Solstice, loosely tra nslated as 'The Light of Arthur', Alban Ei lir - the Druid festival of the Sp ring Elfuinox, loosely translated as 'The Ligh t of th e Earth', Alban Elfed - the Dr uid festi val o f th e Autumn Equi no «, loosely tra nslated as 'T he Ligh t ofw', ter',

AJban Hcfin - the Druid fcsriv;11 of the Summer Sols tice, loosely tran slated as 'The Ligh t of th e Shore', Awen (Welsh) - inspiratio n, the gift or blessing of the gods gene rally, or the Goddc.o;s Ccridwcn, Patroness of the Bards. specifically. Equiva lent 10 Imbas (Irish).

Bard - in ancient times, a poet and sto ryteller who trained in a Rudie college. In modern times, one who sec.s their creativity as an innate spiri tual ability. and who chooses to nurtu re that ability partly or wholly with Druidism. BeltanelBealreinnc - th e D ruid festiva] ded ieated to celebrat ing Spring and {he union of God and Goddess. MC;llling " I'hc Coed Fire', Belran c celebrations usually include leaping over a bonfire. Celebrated around I May in the north ern hemisphere, I O cto ber in the southern.

Druid - in ancienr times a philosophcr, reacher. counsellur and magi~ cian , the word probably mcaning 'A Poresr Sagc' or 'Strong Seer'. In mod ern times, one who follows Druidry as their chosen spiritu a] path , or who has entered the Druid level of training in a Druid O rder,

106

GLOSSARY

DruidCraft - a typc of spiritual pra ctice that co m bines D ru idry with the 'Craft' ufWicca. or when written with a small 'c' Co1 " refer to th e 'craft' of D ru id ry. Eisteddfod (plural Eistcdd foda u) - a Bard ic festival and co mpet ition of the performing arts, from the Welsh. meanin g 'a session or assem bly'. Usually opene d with a Druid ceremony. Equinox - th e tim es in Sp ring and Au tumn when day and n ight arc of eq ual dura tion . They represent tim es of balance and also turn ing points of the year as the seaso ns change. and arc celebrated in D ru id ry with cere mo nies. Gorsedd (plural Gorsedda u) - a te rm used ill Welsh D ruid ry to describe an Assembly o r group of Druids. T he ter m means literally ' h igh sca t', a nd o rigina lly refe rred to p rehi stori c sac red mounds, wh ich were used as places of assem bly for the inau gu ration of kin gs, law-givin g arid fest ival celeb ratio n . A Dr uid Gorsedd usually opells all Eisteddfod." ImbolclOimeic - th e D ru id fest ival of th e Godde ss, particula rly Brighi d , celebrate d aro und I Feb rua ry in th e north ern hem isphere, I August in th e so uthe rn . Leghnasadh/Lammas - th e D ruid festival of th e H arvest, celebrated aro und I Au gust in the northern hemi sph ere. 1 Februa ry in th e so uthe rn . Nwyfre - th e D ru id term for ' Life force', prob ably derived from an ancie nt C eltic word ' Naom h' - firma me nt. Otherworld - th e wo rld or reali ty th at exists in pa rallel with the ph ysical/ everyday wo rld, th at we visit somet imes in d ream s o r . fned ita tio n, and th at D ru ids believe we travel to o n th e dea th of the ph ysical bod y. Ovate - in anc ient tim es a proph et, seer, he aler and di viner. In mod ern rimes, on e who stud ies or practises hcrbali sm , healing and divin ation within a Druidic cont ext, or who has entered th e Ova te level o f train ing with in a Druid O rde r. Revival Druidry or 'The Revival Period' - th e time during th e scvcutecn rh to nin eteenth cent uries when Druidism was redi scovered I and reinv ented .

GLOSSARY

107

Samhuinn/Samhain - the D ruid festival of the An cestors - a tim e for hon ouring th ose wh o have died . celebrated aro und I November in the north ern hem isph ere. I May in the so ut he rn. Solstice - the tim e in Sum me r when th e day is longest, and in Wi mer whe n the day is sho rtest. T hey rcpresem times of powerful celestial and terrestr ial influence , and arc celebrated in Druid ry with ceremo nies.

FURT HER READIN G

Further Reading

109

To explore aspects of Druidry in depth sec: The Druidry Handboole by John Michael Greer. Weiser. 200G. Living Druidry by Emma Resrall O rr. Pintku s, 2004. The Bardic Sourer B(lok ed. by John Ma tthews, Blandford. 1998. The Celtic Srm' Sourer Boole cd. by John M at th ews, Cassell. 1999. Til' Druid Source Book ed. by Jo hn M at th ews, Blandfo rd, 1996 . TheEneyclopaedia ofCeltic Wisd(lm ed. by Joh n and Caitlin M atth ews, Rider. 200 I.

Thr Making ofa Druid, Hiddrn 7,achings from the ColloqllY of Two Sages by C hrisrian J. G uyonvarc, Inn er Trad itions. 2002. For introdu ctor y books on Druidism as a spiritual path. sec Druid Mysteries. Ancient WisdmnjOr flu 2 l '' Century by Philip C arr-Go m m, Rider. 2002; A Cuitk to Druidry by Philip Shallcrass, Piatku s, 2000; Druids - A Begin1Jer's Guide by Cairistiona Worthington, Hodder, 1999, and Principles of Druidry by Enu ua Rcsral l O rr, T ho rso us , 1998. Each book is sho rt and easy to read, and includes practical excrciscs. Although they arc inrroducrory, they arcwritten by people with years of experience in D ruidry, and each one contrihurcs something unique [0 an understanding of what Druidism is. and how if can help yo u.

For an illustrated history that includes the modern period, sec Exploring the World ofthe Druids by D r Mir and a j. G reen. T hames & Hudson , 1998. For a history nf ancien, Dr uid ry, sec The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis. Constable, 1994 and 7/" Druids- Celtic Priests ofNatutr by Jean Marble. Inner Tradit ion s, 1999.

Foran inspirational hook that draws on Druidic and Celtic sources: The Critic Spirit - Daily Meditationsfor the Ttmling Yettr by Caitlin Matthews, Harper Sunl'rancisco, 1999. Q uomrio ns. qu estions. essays and meditations. Kindling the Celtic Spirit by Mara Freeman, HarperSanPrancisco , 200 1. Teachings, poetry, recipes, stories and folklore related to each of the seaso ns .

To explore the wo rk ofa key figure in modern D ru idry, Ross Nichols. a biography, photos, and selections of his paintings and poetry C.1 J1 be seen at wwyu !midry,org. Also sec:

The Book (lfDruidry by Ross Nichols, Thorson s, 1990 . In the Crave (Ifthe Druids - thr Druid 7i'achings (If Ross Nichols by Philip Carr-G omm, Warkins. 2002.

j Ollrneys (lf the SOIlI - The Lift anti LTg,tey (lf lt Druid Chirf by Phi lip Carr-Gomm with the le iters and Travel D iaries of Ross Nichols, T hot h. 2007. To explore the shamanic aspects of Druidry sec Fire in the Head »Shamanismand tbe Celtic Spirit by 'Iom Cowan, HarperS:lJ1 Francisco, 1993. To explore the relationship between Druidry and Wicca sec Druidcrafi - The Magic (lfWicca"TId Druidry by Ph ilip C arr-C c m m . T ho rsons, 2002 . To learn how a Druidic understanding ca ll be used when exploring th e land scape see The Druid Woy by Philip Ca rr-C orn m. Thoth, 2006.

11 0

FURT HER READING

To read a wide range o f co urrilnn ions from Druid s around the world, which include essays on hisrory, healing. ritual, herbs, star-lore and

more. sec 71" Rebirth of Druidry, edited by Philip Carr-Gorum. T horso ns, 2003. To explore the Feminine perspective in Druidry, see:

Resources and Contacts

Druid Priestess by Emma Resrall Orr. Th orsons, 200 1. The Modern-Day Druidess by Cassandra Eason. Piarkus, 2003. A Druid Abroad - A Quest for the Ladyin Druidry by Sandra Parsons. Capall Bann, 2003. To explore D ruid oracles. sec:

The Druid Arrival Oracle by Philip and Slephanie Carr-Gomm, Co nnect ions, 1994. The DruidCraji Tarot, by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Comm. Connections. 2004 . 77JC Celtic Tree Oracle by Liz

and Col Murray. Rider. 1989.

The Internet To learn more abOUI Druid ry, the Internet is a powerful resource. jusr rypc ' D ruid ry' or 'D ru id ' into a search engine and a wealth ofsires will be offered. An excellent guide is The D ruid Network's website at www.druidnetwork, org. whi ch o ffers profiles o f mosr Druid organisations, book reviews, events listings and more. Another major resource is rhe O rder of Bards. Ova res and Druids website at www.druidry.org. which has over two thousand pages of information, including a library, sectio ns on training in Druidry, D ru id cam ps. tile Sacred G rove Plant ing Programme. th e C1mpaign for Ecological Rcspon sibility. a bookshop , and com prehensive links to many other sites. T he Message Board has over 2.000 members and represents the largesr Druid com mu nity o n th e Inr ern et.

Courses and Groups The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids o ffers an experien cebased horn e-learn ing course that guides yo u through th e three grades of Bard . Ovate and D ruid. Each m onth leaching

material is mailed to you. and you have the support of a men tor to whom you can write o r email. In additio n there are work-

shops . camps and celebrations in Britain and th e USA and other parts of the world . and over eighty groves and seed-groups where you can meet and work with other members. T he course is also available in an audio version and in French. Ge rman and D utch. Full de tails from: 0 1300. PO Box 1333 . Lewes. East Sussex. BN 7 l O X. TeI/f.1x +44 (0) 1273 47 08 88 . Email O BOO @d rui d ry.o r~ or see www. d rui d ry.ot~ .

The British Druid Order run s camps and works hop s. otga nizes fest ivals and celebratio ns and publ ishes books and magazin es: BO O. PO Box 635. H alifax. H X2 6WX. UK . www.dru idordc r.de mo n.co.uk. In the USA the three main Druid groups are the Ancient O rder of Dru ids in Am erica, PO Box 11 8 1. Ashland . O R 97520. www.aoda.org; T he Henge of Keltria, PO Box 430 5. Clarksburg. WV 26302. www. kcl t ria . or~ : and ADF. 859 N . Hollywood Way. Box 368. Burban k. CA 9 1505. www,adf,o rg. Informat ion on most of the ot her D ruid organ izations can be found on www.dru id network.org and in A Druid Directory by Phi lip Shallcrass and Em ma Rcstall Orr. publ ished by t he BO O . Co pies are avai lable fro m th e BO O and fro m t he OllOD online bookshcp.

Index

Abaris. 28- 9 ADF (A Druid Fellowship). 12. 14. 50 Adius La mpndi us, 26

Aengus mac Og. 76. 77 Ahimsa (non-violence), -12 Alban Anhan ('T he Light of Arthur), 105 Alban Eilir ('The Light or the Earth'), 105 Alban Elfed (The Light ofWaler), 105 Alban Hcfln (T he Light of the Shore'), 10 5 alchemy, 55 aliena tion, individua l. 3-4 Arnangons. 8 I Ancienr and Archaeological O rder of Druids. 20 Anciem Druid Order, I I, J3.23. 32, 33 Ancient Order of Druids, 19- 20 Ancient Order of Druids in America, 22 anim al lore, 80 An s and Humanities Research Board,95

astral travelling. 52 Aubrey, John, 17-1 8 ~valon College: of Druidry, 101

Avcbury, 18 Awen, 55, 63, 91, 105 Baker, Matt, 86 handmi (female Druids), 25- 8 Barddas (1010 Morg,,"wg), 30 bard s, 40, 4 1, 105 bees. 80 Beh anc/Bcalrcin nc (The Good Fire) ,68, 105 Bon ewirs. Jsnac, 14. 49- 50 Book ofDruitlry (Ross Nichols). 33 Boudicca, 26-7 Brehon laws, 58 Brighid, 76, 77, 80

Bristol University. 95 British Druid O rder, 100, I J2

Caesar. Jul ius. 9. 17, 29. 43 Capra. l'ritjof 44- 5

Carr·Gonull, Philip. 14 Celtic spiri tuality. 13-1 4 'Ce ltic '(wilighl', 23

'Celticism'. 99- 100

114

INDEX

IND EX

C halice Well, G bs ton bury, 69

« hies, 57- 65

Chapman, Vern, 33-4 C brdticu tie Troyes, 8 1

followe rs, numbers of, G. 14-1 ~ fraternal, 19- 2 1, 23 fin urc of, 94 - 10 I groves, 74-5 and indivi dualism , 83--4 and magic, 54-6 mod ern , 2-8 mod ern , or igins of, 9- 15 mo no the istic, 36 and mysticism , S 1- 2 myth ... an d sto ries, 4- 5, II ,

C hurchill, W instoll, 20 C icero, 29 co m m un ity and relationships, 6 1-2 Co ncbob ar, King. 26, 27 'Come del Gr:l:ll' (C h retien de Troycs), 8 1 Co rmac, King. 28 covens. 74 C owan. To m, 16 creativity, cultivatio n of, 40 . 60, 90 crema t ion, 32 culture, couunercializ.ario n of, 3 Da Mo nte . Joh n. 33 Din C assius, 26 Diodorus Siculus, 17. 29. 43 D iol1. 26--7 di vinat ion systems, 72 Divitiacus, 29

DomiriancZf 'D ru id ', o rigin of, 2. lOS

Druid Nl: IWOrk , 101 DruidCraft, 99, 10(, Druidism

in America, 10. 11-12, 14. 22, . 98 attra ctio ns of. 2- 6 books O il , 100

and 'Cchicism', 99- 100 Chrisriau, 7- 8, 70- 1. 98 co urses, 84- 5. 111- 12 cultural. 18- 19. 23 do gmatism. frcl"C.!ol11 from, 2,

35-6,

.~ 7

• d uot hcisric , 3 1, 36 en viro n men t, co ncern for, 93

40- 1, 78-82 orders, 85, 100- 1 pan th eistic, 36 and pilgrimage, 73-4 polyth eistic, 3()-? p ractica l value of. 89 -93 p ract ice o f, 72-3 Revival, 10, I G, 30, 32 , 36,

94-5 , 106 rites, 75-7 Roma n accounts of, 16- 17, 29,

43 seaso nal fesljva ls, t I, 66- 73 and sexuality, 97 and shama n ism , 52-3 spiritual, 2 1-2, 23-4, 36 teachers , 8()-7 tria ds, 78- 9 and women, 99 Druid ism : helief" comm un ity and rcl.nio nships.

6 1-2 cu ltivat ion of creativity, 40, 60 ,

90 cultivation of love, 40- 1, 90 cultivatio n o f wisdo m, 39-40,

90

devotion to trut h, 57- 8 holist ic co nce ptio n of nature, 37,

115

Halliday. F. E.. 25

.L1w of the Harvest, 47-8. 54

Hansen, Da n iel. 89 H arner, Mic hael, 52 ( Iern e, Robin , 36-7 h istory, love of, 41

O therworld, 38; 39, 51- 2,

71J~

44- 7,87-8 int egrit y, 63-4

106

peace. 43-4 perso nal respo nsibility, 60- 1 rein carnation , 38- 9 reverence, 42 trust , 62- 3

web of lif<, 14- 7 D ru id s Friendly Society (Austra lia).

20 'Druid 's Prayer', 2 1- 2. 40 Tbe Druid/ V'oia (magazine), 100 D Unc.1 I1 , Robert, 78

Eisteddfo da u. 5, 6, 19, 69 , 106 enviro n ment , 3, 93 equi noxes, 66-7, 68, 106 Erskine. Barba ra. 7-8. 70- 1 ethics, 57--65

History oftbr Druids(john Toland), 36 Holy Grail, 81, 9 1 homeo pat hy, 33 Hutton . Ro nald , 96 Huxley, Aldo us. 51 Imbas, 55 Imbolc/ O irnclc, 68, 106 integrity, 63-4 Int er national Gra nd Lodge of D ruid ism, 20 In tern et. I I I 1010 M or ganwg (Ed ward Wi lliam s),

18-1 9, 2 1- 2, 30, 94 'jo u rne ying', 52 jus tice, love of, 40 King, M artin Luth er, 42

Fidclma, 27-8 Fortune, Dion, 9 Freemasonry, 19, 20 friend ly socie ties. 5, 20- 1 Ga ia hypot hesis, 44- 5 Ga nd hi, Mahatma. 42 G anna,26 Ga rdner, Ge rald, I I G lasto n bury, 3 . 69, 96

Corseddau. 19, 106 G raves, Robert. 11, 33 Greer, John Michael, 35, 94, 97 groves, 74 - 5

of th e I Iarvcst, 47-8, 54 of the T h reefold Return. 47 Lennon, John , 12. 49 Icy lines, t 2, 13 Lightin Britannia (Owen Morgan ), LIW

l...1W

30- 1 love, cultivatio n of, 40- 1, 90 Lovelock , Jam es, 44 Loyal Arrh ur ian War ha nd , 12- 3 l.ughn asadh/ Lam mas. 68 , 106 M acCumhaill, Fionn (Fin n

MacCool), 25-6, 39

li b

I NDEX

MacGregor Reid. George Watson, 10, 11,1 3. 32- 3 MacG r<.'gof Reid, Robert, II

Macleod. Fiona, 23 magic. 54-6 Marble. Jean, 9 Matthews. Caitlin and John. 13, 14 Maughan, Thomas. 33, 84

'McWorld'.5 Medb. Q ueen. 27 megalithic monu ment s, 17- 18, 95- 6 Merlin's Enclosure. 8 1 metempsychosis, 38, 39 Michell, John, 12- 13 'Mind Games' (john Lenno n), 12 rnistlcroc, 79 Mog Ruirh, 28 Morgan, O wen, 30- 1 Myers. Brendan, 57 , 58. 60. 66 . 97 mysticism, 51- 2 nature, holistic co nception o f, 37.

44- 7 , 87-8 1131

u rism , 97

ll;uurop,1thy. 32 Nt ltloracht (cloud-watching), 29 ncopa gani an, 49-50 Nessa, 26 'Nov Age'. 13 Nichols. Ross. 10. 1\, 13, 14. 23. 33 , 43 ,84 Nih tscada , Athelia, 58- 9 Nwyfre ('life force'). 55. 63. 9 1, 106 O ' Do uohuc, John, 62 O gham, 1 r. 72 . 80

O isin. 58 The DIlCt' and Fllttlrl' King (T. H . White). 43 or acles. 72 Order of Bards, O vares and Druids (0 110D ) courses. 14- 15, 111-1 2

festivals. 3, 67 foundatio n of. 10. 13 , 23. 33 marriage ceremony. 75-7 Order of the Golden Dawn, 10 ornithomancy. 29 Otherworld , 38, 39. 5 1- 2. 106 ovat cs. 4 1. 106 Paganism, ()-7. 11. 31 Parehaka Maoris, 42

Pascal, Bla ise, 6 5 Patrick, Saint, 58 peace. 43-4 Pcndragou , Arthur. 42-3 Perry. Ted. 45 personal responsibility, 60- 1 Philost ratus. 39 pilgrimage, 73-4 plant lore. 79- 80 Pliny, 79 polyamo ry, 97 Pomponius Mcla. 26 Price, William. 3 1-2 Proust. Marcel. 56 Pythagoras. 29 Reformed Druid s of North America (RO NA). 10. 11-1 2. 14 reincarnation. 38- 9 Resrall Orr. Emma. 83 revercnce, 4 2

IND EX Ro manticism , 44

11 7

Toland. John, 36 Tolkien Society. 34 tree lore. 4 1,79.80 triads, 78-9

Russell. George. 23 Salmon of Wisdom . 39. 90- 1 Samhuinn/S:llnhain. 6R. 107 samolus , 79 Seanle, Chief. -i5 seb gu. 79 Sella, island of, 26 Severns. Alexander, 26 sexuality, 97 Shallcross, Philip. 83 shamanism. 52-3 solstices. 66- 7. 68, 107 Steiner. Rudol f, 9

trust . 62- 3

truth, devo tio n to , 57- 8 Unitarianism. 11. 18 Universal Bond, 10. 11, 32 Universalist Church. 11, 32 Upan ishads. 42 ver vain , 79- 80 A Vi~w over Atlantis (jo hn Michdl) ,

12-1 3

sto ne circles. 95-6

Stonehenge archaeological studies of: 18, 30 ceremo nies. 3. 11 . 67 Srrabo. 28. 57 Stukelcy, William. 18, 30 sweat houses. 53 Sword of ju stice, 77

'[{,i" flo Ctta iling~ (Cattle R.aid Cooley). 27- 8 Talbncnm. 21 Talicsiu, 39, 9 1 Testamen t of Moran n, 57- 8 The osoph ical Society, 10 T igh 'n' AII,,;s, 53 Ti ppen. Michael. 43

or

web of life, 44- 7 ' Web of Wyrd ', 45 wells. sacred. 80- 1 Welsh National Eisteddfod. 6. 19 We,<;rern Mystery Tradition, I I. 45 W bite. T. II ., 43 Th~ Whiu Goddess (Robert Graves). 11. 33 W iCC.1. 11. 3 1, 36 , 42 , 47. 74 . 99 Williams. Edward s('( Iolo Morganwg wisdom. cul tivat io n of. 39-40. 90 Worthington, Cairisriona. I

Yeats. W. II.• 23