Druidry

Many people here tell me the same thing on the subject f Druidry: "Idk besides who really knows about druidry anyways?" Well, I've decided to look up the history of Celtic Druidry and its belief system.
Overview of Druidism:
According to a passage in an Wikipedia essay on Druidry (since deleted):

"Modern Druidism (a.k.a. Modern Druidry) is a continuation of the 18th-century revival and is thus thought to have some, though not many, connections to the Ancient Religion. Modern Druidism has two strands, the cultural and the religious. Cultural Druids hold a competition of poetry, literature and music known as the Eisteddfod amongst the Celtic peoples (Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Breton, etc). Modern religious Druidry is a form of Neopaganism built largely around writings produced in the 18th century and later, plus the relatively sparse Roman and early medieval sources."

Cahan Tiarnan, writing about religious Druidry, said:

"Contrary to wrong beliefs, Druids have always been and still are religious, not only believing in, but also knowing reincarnation is real. Furthermore, Druids know there are many Gods and Goddesses. One cannot be a 'Christian, Wiccan, Moslem or anything else' and a Druid. They will contradict each other."

"A pernicious misconception about the Druids, both past and present is the accusation of human and animal sacrifice. Modern Druids do not practice any form of human or animal sacrifice. Any evidence that the ancient Druids did is very sparse and not well substantiated. In other words, there is very little, if any proof that Druids practice or practiced human or animal sacrifice."

History:
Since ancient Druidism was an oral tradition, they did not have a set of scriptures as do Christianity and other "religions of the book. 1 " Some Druidic "teachings survived in the Bardic colleges in Wales, Ireland and Scotland which remained active until the 17th century, in medieval manuscripts, and in oral tradition, folk lore and ritual." 2

Druidism and other Neopagan religions are currently experiencing a rapid growth. Many people are attempting to rediscover their roots, their ancestral heritage. For many people in North America, their ancestors can be traced back to Celtic/Druidic countries.

Most modern Druids connect the origin of their religion to the ancient Celtic people. However, historical data is scarce. The Druids may well have been active in Britain and perhaps in northern Europe before the advent of the Celts.

Many academics believe that the ancestors of the Celts were the Proto-Indo European culture who lived near the Black Sea circa 4000 BCE. Some migrated in a South-Westerly direction to create the cultures of Thrace and Greece; others moved North-West to form the Baltic, Celtic, Germanic and Slavic cultures. Evidence of a Proto-Celtic Unetice or Urnfield culture has been found in what is now Slovakia circa 1000 BCE. This evolved into a group of loosely linked tribes which formed the Celtic culture circa 800 BCE. By 450 BCE they had expanded into Spain; by 400 BCE they were in Northern Italy, and by 270 BCE, they had migrated into Galatia (central Turkey). By 200 BCE, they had occupied the British Isles, Brittany, much of modern France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, North West Spain, and their isolated Galatia settlement in Turkey.

Although the Celts had a written language, it was rarely used. Their religious and philosophical beliefs were preserved in an oral tradition. Little of their early history remains. Most of our information comes from Greek and Roman writers, who may well have been heavily biased (the Celts invaded Rome in 390 BCE and Greece in 279 BCE). Other data comes from the codification (and modification) of Celtic myth cycles by Christian monks. The latter included the Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle, the Cycle of Kings, the Invasion Races Cycle from Ireland, and The Mabinogion from Wales. Unfortunately, much Celtic history and religion has been lost or distorted by an overlay of Christianity.

The Christian Church adsorbed much of Celtic religion. Many Pagan Gods and Goddesses have became Christian saints; sacred springs and wells were preserved and associated with saints; many Pagan temple sites became the location of cathedrals. By the 7th Century CE, Druidism itself was destroyed or continued deeply underground throughout most of the formerly Celtic lands. There is some evidence that Pagan religions did survive in isolated areas of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the 20th Century.



Myths about Druids
Ritual Killing: Many historians believed that the ancient Druids performed human sacrifices. All of these references can be traced back to the writings of one individual, Julius Caesar. He may well have been prejudiced against the Celts because of their continual warfare with the Romans. In war, the enemy is routinely demonized. Some remains of executions have been found in the archaeological record, but it is not obvious whether the victims were killed during religious rituals or to carry out the sentence of a court. There is one reference to human sacrifice in Celtic literature, but it appears to be a Christian forgery. The ancient Celts might have engaged in ritual killing; certainly other contemporary societies did. Modern Druids, of course, do not.
Stonehenge, Avebury, etc.: Many people believe that the Druids constructed Stonehenge, the complex of standing stones in South Central England. Stonehenge I ("Old Stonehenge"), which was composed of the 56 "Aubrey" holes, was constructed circa 3500 BCE. The current formation was completed circa 1500 BCE. This was almost a millennium before the start of Celtic civilization. The Druids may have preceded the Celts in England. Thus, either the Druids or their fore-runners might have been responsible for the finishing of Stonehenge and other monuments. There is no historical proof that they were or were not involved. Even if they did not actually construct these monuments, they may well have performed rituals there, and understood its astronomical meanings and uses.
In Ireland and the UK, there are many ancient "Druid" altars, beds, rings, stones, stone circles and temples. However, radio-carbon analyses assign dates such as 1380 BCE (Wilsford Shaft) to 3330 BCE (Hembury). Again, ancient Druids may have used these megalithic monuments, but did not necessarily build them

Ireland now has countless wells and springs dedicated to the Christian Saint Bridget. She was obviously descended from the Celtic Goddess Brigid/Brigit. "Finding the cult of Brigit impossible to eradicate, the Catholic church rather unwisely canonized her as a saint, calling her Bridget or Bride." 3 The sacred ownership of the various Pagan holy sites were simply translated from Goddess Brigid to St. Bridget after the area was Christianized.

Celtic God Samhain: This non-existent God is often mentioned at Halloween time. He is supposed to be the Celtic God of the Dead. No such God existed. Samhain is, in reality, the name of a Druidic fire festival. It can be loosely translated as "end of the warm season".
Monotheistic Druids: Some writers have promoted the concept that Druids were basically monotheistic, following a sort of pre-Christian belief system. There is essentially no evidence of this. Druids worshipped a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. However, some modern-day cultural Druids have merged Druid customs with a modern-day religion -- typically Christianity -- and are monotheists.

Beliefs and Practices:
Beliefs and practices of the ancient Celts are being pieced together by modern Druids. Because so much information has been lost, this is not an easy task. Some findings are:

Specialties: Within ancient Druidism, there were three specialties. "A general categorisation of the three different grades accords the arts to the bards, the skills of prophecy and divination to the Ovates and philosophical, teaching, counseling and judicial tasks to the Druid." 1 The Bards were "the keepers of tradition, of the memory of the tribe - they were the custodians of the sacredness of the Word." In Ireland, they trained for 12 years learning grammar, hundreds of stories, poems, philosophy, etc.
The Ovates worked with the processes of death and regeneration. They were the native healers of the Celts. They specialized in divination, conversing with the ancestors, and prophesizing the future.
The Druids and Druidesses formed the professional class in Celtic society. They performed the functions of modern day priests, teachers, ambassadors, astronomers, genealogists, philosophers, musicians, theologians, scientists, poets and judges. They underwent lengthy training: some sources say 20 years. Druids led all public rituals, which were normally held within fenced groves of sacred trees. In their role as priests, "they acted not as mediators between God and man, but as directors of ritual, as shamans guiding and containing the rites." Most leaders mentioned in the surviving records were male. It is not known whether female Druids were considered equal to their male counterparts, or whether they were restricted to special responsibilities. References to women exercising religious power might have been deleted from the record by Christian monks during the Celtic Christian era.

Goddesses and Gods: The Celts did not form a single religious or political unity. They were organized into tribes spread across what is now several countries. As a result, of the 374 Celtic deities which have been found, over 300 occur only once in the archaeological record; they are believed to be local deities. There is some evidence that their main pantheon of Gods and Goddesses might have totaled about 3 dozen - perhaps precisely 33 (a frequently occurring magical number in Celtic literature). Some of the more famous are: Arawn, Brigid, Cernunnos, Cerridwen, Danu, Herne, Lugh, Morgan, Rhiannon and Taranis. Many Celtic deities were worshipped in triune (triple aspect) form. Triple Goddesses were often sisters.
Afterlife: They believed that the dead were transported to the Otherworld by the God Bile (AKA Bel, Belenus). Life continued in this location much as it had before death. The ancient Druids believed that the soul was immortal. After the person died in the Otherworld, their soul reincarnates and lives again in another living entity -- either in a plant or the body of a human or other animal. After a person has learned enough at this level, they move on after death to a higher realm, which has its own Otherworld. This continues until the individual reaches the highest realm, the "Source." A Druidic visitor to this web site wrote: "All things are created from the Source, including the Gods. We are just sparks from its flame." At every birth, the Celts mourned the death of a person in the Otherworld which made the new birth possible.
Creation Myth: No Druidic creation story appears to have survived, although there are numerous accounts of the supernatural creation of islands, mountains, etc.
Baptism: There is some evidence that the Celts had a baptism initiation ceremony similar to those found in Buddhist, Christian, Essene, Hindu, Islamic, and Jainist sacred texts. Other researchers dismiss baptism as a forgery by Christian scribes as they transferred Celtic material to written form.
Moral code: Druids do not follow the Wiccan Rede which states (in modern English) one is free to do anything, as long as it harms nobody. The closest analogy are the Celtic Virtues of honor, loyalty, hospitality, honesty, justice and courage. "Daven" briefly describes the Virtues as follows:

"Briefly stated the virtue of Honor requires one to adhere to their oaths and do the right thing, even if it will ultimately hurt others or oneself in the process. A Druid is obligated to remain true to friends, family and leaders thus exhibiting the virtue of Loyalty. Hospitality demands that a Druid be a good host when guests are under one's roof. Honesty insists that one tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth to yourself, your gods and your people. Justice desires the Druid understands everyone has an inherent worth and that an assault to that worth demands recompense in one form or another. Courage for the Druid does not always wear a public face; it is standing-strong-in-the-face-of-adversity, alone or with companions. Sometimes Courage is getting up and going about a daily routine when pain has worn one down without complaint or demur." 2
Divination: Druids used many techniques to foretell the future: meditation, study of the flight of birds, interpreting dreams, and interpreting the pattern of sticks thrown to the ground.
Ancient symbols: The Celtic Tree of Life, as interpreted here by Welsh artist Jen Delyth, shows a concept if the cosmos in which the universe is in the form of a tree whose roots and branches join.
The flag of the Isle of Man, as interpreted here by Stuart Notholt, contains a triskele. It is an ancient Druidic symbol consisting of three curved branches, bent legs or arms radiating from the center of the symbol. 3
The Sun wheel or Wheel of Taranis honors the Celtic sun god. It is in the form of a wheel with six spokes.

Modern symbols: These include: Wreath and staves consisting of a wreath with two vertical staves.
Awen symbol: This is a symbol drawn in the form of three pillars, in which the outer two are sloped towards the center pillar, as in the center of the above symbol. Sometimes, one or three dots are added above the pillars. The symbol has been in use since the 17th century; it recalls the Druidic fascination with the number three. "Awen" means inspiration in Middle Welsh. The left ray represents female energy; the right: male energy; the middle: the harmonious balance of male and female

Seasonal Days of Celebration:
Druids, past and present, celebrate a series of fire-festivals, on the first of each of four months. Each would start at sunset and last for three days. Great bonfires would be built on the hilltops. Cattle would be driven between two bonfires to assure their fertility; couples would jump over a bonfire or run between two bonfires as well. The festivals are:

Samhain (or Samhuinn) Literally the "end of warm season". November 1 marked the combined Feast of the Dead and New Year's Day for the Celtic calendar. It is a time when the veil between our reality and that of the Otherworld is most easily penetrated. This fire festival was later adopted by the Christians as All Soul's Eve, and later became the secular holiday Halloween.
Imbolc (or Brighid) Literally "in the belly". February 1 marked The Return of Light. This is the date when the first stirrings of life were noticeable and when the land might first be plowable. This has been secularized as Groundhog Day.
Beltaine (or Bealteinne). May 1 was the celebration of The Fires of Bel. This was the peak of blossom season, when domesticated animals bear their young. This is still celebrated today as May Day. Youths dance around the May pole in what is obviously a reconstruction of an earlier fertility ritual.
Lughnasad (or Lughnasadh, Lammas). August 1 was The Feast of Lugh, named after the God of Light. A time for celebration and the harvest.

There were occasional references in ancient literature to:

the winter solstice, typically December 21, when the nighttime is longest
the summer solstice, typically June 21, when the nighttime is shortest

Modern Druidic movements:
According to the British Druid Order, there are about "...25 Druid groups in Britain alone, with a further 300 or so worldwide." Some are:

Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD): This:

"... is a spiritual group dedicated to practicing, teaching, and developing Druidry as a valuable and inspiring spirituality. The Order was founded by Ross Nichols and a group of members of The Ancient Druid Order, including the writer Vera Chapman. The Ancient Druid Order developed during the early years of the last century out of the Druid Revival which began about three hundred years ago. The ADO traces its origins to 1717." See: http://druidry.org/

The Council of British Druid Orders (CoBDO) grew out of discussions among four Druid Orders in the UK during the late 1980s. By 2009, they became the largest Druid organisation in Britain with thousands of members and associates throughout Britain and the rest of the world. See: http://www.cobdo.org.uk/
The British Druid Order was founded in 1979 by Philip Shallcrass, aka Greywolf. The BDO "see Druidry as a process of constant change and renewal whereby the tradition is continually recreated to address the needs of each generation." As of early 2006, they have about 3,000 members, mostly in the UK, but also in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. See: http://www.britishdruidorder.co.uk/
The Reformed Druids of North America: This movement started as a type of undergraduate prank at a mid-western U.S. college (Carleton College at Northfield, MN) in 1963. (One source says 1957). The administration had required that all students attend church. Some students invented the RDNA as a reaction to this rule. The leaders were amazed when many of the students wanted to continue the RDNA, even after the protest against the administration had been won. From this source, a number of Neopagan Druidic movements have split off, including: Ar nDraiocht Fein: (ADF) This can be loosely translated as "our own Druidism". Their name is pronounced "arn ree-ocht fane". It was founded by Isaac Bonewits who is currently the Archdruid Emeritus. The ADF emphasizes scholarly research, and " a blend of ancient practices and modern realities". His motto is "paganize mainstream religion by mainstreaming paganism". Their goal is to recreate a Pan-European Druidism, involving elements from Baltic, Celtic, Germanic Slavic and even pre-classical Greek and Roman beliefs. The ADF publishes a quarterly ADF journal, a bimonthly News from the Mother Grove, and a semi-yearly Druid's Progress. As of early 2007, they have 57 groves in the U.S. and beyond. See: http://www.adf.org
The Henge of Keltria: Five ADF members compiled a list of 13 concerns about the ADF at the Pagan Spirit Gathering in 1986, Emulating the actions of Martin Luther, they attached the list to the door of Isaac Bonewits' van in 1986 . Fortunately for Isaac, they used tape in place of the nails that a tradition says that Martin Luther used at the Wittenberg cathedral. Keltria has focused on ancient Celtic religion and holds only non-public rituals. They published a journal: Keltria: A Journal of Druidism and Celtic Magick" from 1986 to 1998. They promote "... a spiritual path dedicated to revering the Nature Spirits, honoring the Ancestors, and worshipping the Deities of our ancient Irish ancestors. See: http://www.keltria.org/

Books on Druidism:
J. Bonwick, "Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions," Dorsett Press (1986) Out of print, but may be obtainable from Amazon.com
P. Carr-Gomm, "The Druid Tradition," Element, Rockport MA (1991) You can read reviews, and/or order this book safely from Amazon.com
C. Chippindale, "Stonehenge Complete," Thames & Hudson, New York (1994) Review/order this book
P.B. Ellis, "The Druids," W.B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids MI (1994) Review/order this book
E.E. Hopman, "The Druid's Herbal For The Sacred Earth Year," Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, (1995) Review/order this book
Douglas Monroe, "The 21 Lessons of Merlyn," Llewellyn Publications, (1992). Reviews /order this book
R. Nichols, "The Book of Druidry," Aquarium, London (1975) Review/order this book
B. Raftery, "Pagan Celtic Ireland: The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age," Thames & Hudson, New York (1994)
Emma Restall-Orr: "Thorsons Principles of Druidry," Thorsons Publ, (1999) Review/order this book
"Spirits of the Sacred Grove: The world of a Druid Priestess," Thorsons Publ, (1998) Review/order this book
"Ritual: A Guide to Life, Love & Inspiration," Thorsons, London (2000-SEP) Review/order this book


Philip Shallcrass, "Druidry," Piatkus Books, (2000-OCT) Review/order this book

Now mind you this is cut and paste after reading it. If any of this appears to be incorrect in any way and you have solid proof please let me know, proof ready. I will then revise this discussion till it is completely accurate.

Have a Good Read, Aden dara Einan