log inhelp

 | 

  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Druidry

This version was saved 17 years, 5 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by PBworks
on November 12, 2006 at 11:41:51 am
 

The experience of Druidry

 

"As with most other streams of indigenous wisdom, the Druidic tradition has always been predominantly an oral tradition. Whether in a forest grove or sitting in front of a crackling hearth, the Druid tradition is a mouth-to-ear transmission of an ancient 'practical mysticism' that can guide and inspire us to live with the earth in harmony.” - Frank MacEowen, author of The Mist-Filled Path, The Spiral of Memory and Belonging, and The Old Celtic Way of Seeing

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 and the sacred right to life of all that is part of the Earth. Like a great tree drawing nourishment through its roots, Druidry draws wisdom from its ancestral heritage. There is a saying in Druidry that ‘The great tree thrives on the leaves that it casts to the ground’. Druidry today does not pretend to present a replica of the past, rather it is producing a new season’s growth. - Cairistiona Worthington, The Beginner’s Guide to Druidry

 

Druid beliefs

 

  • Threefold nature of the Divine (Mother, Father and Child)
  • Awen – the spirit that pervades everything
  • Druids can be polytheist, pantheist, animist, atheist, even Christian
  • Practices are more important than beliefs
  • Diversity is healthy and natural
  • The Otherworld - the place we travel to when we die. But we can also visit it during our lifetime in dreams, in meditation, under hypnosis, or in ‘journeying’, when in a shamanic trance.
  • Reincarnation; cyclical nature of reality
  • Everything is interconnected
  • Based on ancient Celtic beliefs

Philip Carr-Gomm (2006), What do Druids Believe? Granta

 

Druid values

 

  • Reverence and respect for all creatures
  • Peacefulness
  • Wisdom, creativity, love
  • Taking responsibility and feeling empowered
  • The circle of all beings
  • The power of trust
  • Integrity
  • The value of the opposite
  • Being of value to others and the world

 

“St Patrick was said to have asked Oisin, the son of Fionn Mac Cumhall, what sustained his people before the advent of Christianity, to which he replied: “the truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our arms, and fulfilment in our tongues.”

 

Druid practices

 

  • Druid circles start with a ritual, followed by an eisteddfod (sharing of music and poetry and the arts), followed by a feast
  • Three grades: Bard, Ovate, Druid
    • Bards – creativity (poetry, song, storytelling)
    • Ovates – healing, shamanic practices
    • Druids – magic (?)
  • Environmental activism
  • Living in nature; communing with nature

 

Druid festivals

 

The Druid Wheel of the Year

 

Samhuinn (Hallowe'en)

Alban Arth(u)an – Light of Winter / Light of Arthur (Winter Solstice)

Imbolc – festival of Brigit, goddess of poetry, healing & smithcraft

Alban Eilir – Light of Spring / Spring Equinox

Beltane (May Day)

Alban Hefin – Light of Summer

Lughnasadh (Lammas)

Alban Elfed – Light of Autumn / Autumn Equinox

 

Druid groups

 

AOD – Ancient Order of Druids (1792)

Kevanvod Tud Donn (France, 1936)

OBOD – Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (1964)

VAOD – Vereinigter Alter Orden der Druiden (Germany)

BDO – British Druid Order

GOD – Glastonbury Order of Druids

SOD – Secular Order of Druids

NOD – New Order of Druids (Belgium)

COD – Cotswold Order of Druids

and many more...

 

Further reading

 

Further viewing

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.

Printable version