Druidry article

[Blackbird]

I've added an article about Druidry to our articles section. It was written for another site, but I thought it would be a useful thing to have here too.


What opinions do the rest of you hold on 'Druidry'? What does the word mean to you?
Does it have relevance to your personal practice?
Do you have any words that define your practice?

(I seem to be full of questions tonight...)

;D

[goldenhand]

Nice article

From my pov, what you were writing about was the CR approach. This is pretty much where I put myself too, though I don't call myself CR. I just call myself a Celtic or Brythonic Pagan.

Whenever I've tried to call myself CR, people assume that I'm a reenactor! I don't find it a good term to use, unless I'm talking with other Pagans.

No, I don't call myself a Druid and I don't call my path Druidry. Like you, I'm not interested in being lumped in with the white-clad-stonehenge-botherers. Also, I don't think that I can lay claim to the name Druid, I don't belive that I have earned that right.

When the ancients used the word, they meant someone who had completed a gruelling and lengthy training, someone that the whole of society looked up to and looked to for wisdom. I'm just a common or garden Pagan, lol!

Blessings,

Angharad

[branynos]

Wow great article.

What opinions do the rest of you hold on 'Druidry'? What does the word mean to you?
I've had trouble claiming the name over the years, druid is a job title (even if we're not 100% sure what the role covers) to call the spirituality that unlies it druidry is a bit like decided the members of the Anglican church practice Vicary because their priests are called Vicars.

Does it have relevance to your personal practice?
There is a lot of good scholarly work done on the practices of the Celts within the druid community and the CR one which I find feeds back into how I practice, they're not the only source though. With the big groups like OBOD BDO & the Druids Network I find theres too much cross fertilisation with Wicca for my taste (which is not knocking Wicca its part of my pagan roots but its not Brythonic or polytheist)

Do you have any words that define your practice?
I call myself Gewessi. Theres helpful isn't it

Its the name of a British tribe (or a band of mercenaries) around during the Arthurian period who were probably practicing some form of multicultural (Roman/Celtic/Saxon) British polytheism.
I don't think people seperated their tribal idenity from their spiritual identity before Christianity came along, one word would cover both cultural and religious affiliation. Using a modern 'tribal' identity like Londoner, Welsh, Wiccan, Druid, etc seperates the spiritual from the locality and I wanted to recombine them because the locality is part of my spirituality.



If people want to read my ramblings they're here:
gewessi.blogspot.com/

[sidhemaiden]

I would like to know more about druidry, it's something that calls to me in some way. I wouldn't call myself a druid now, as I haven't done any study. I was looking at the obod course a while ago, but can't afford it

L&B
Lady Eleanor

[Blackbird]

white-clad-stonehenge-botherers.

lol! ;D

Seriously, I also agree that if the title 'Druid' is to be used, that it should imply that some kind of training has been done or experience has been had. Or that person is fulfilling a Druidic function for a group, eg., in charge of making sacrifices or leading ritual.

However, consider that in ancient Celtic societes, Druidic training may have been the only formal method of education. So if we also consider that in the Western world now, all children complete at least 10 years of formal schooling, that might put the Druidic training of 20 years into perspective. I went to university, and thus completed 18 years of formal education. Obviously, the content was nothing like Druidic training... but I feel it's a useful comparison.

[Blackbird]

branynos said:

to call the spirituality that underlies it druidry is a bit like decided the members of the Anglican church practice Vicary because their priests are called Vicars.

Definitely. (Though I do think it's a trait of modern paganism that everyone wants to be a priest.)

With the big groups like OBOD BDO & the Druids Network I find theres too much cross fertilisation with Wicca for my taste (which is not knocking Wicca its part of my pagan roots but its not Brythonic or polytheist)

I agree. OBOD is quite proud of the similarities. And Bobcat was originally a Wiccan, something which definitely shows. But then, even some CR stuff seems quite 'Wiccany' to me, still including things like circle casting, calling quarters and stuff.

By the way, I mean no offence to Wicca at all - I think it's a perfectly valid religion. What I object to is the way that some people are so blinded by it that they can't see past it to more 'Celtic' forms of spiritual expression.

I call myself Gewessi. Theres helpful isn't it

I like that

I don't think people seperated their tribal idenity from their spiritual identity before Christianity came along, one word would cover both cultural and religious affiliation.

That's very interesting, not something that had occurred to me before, but I can see that value of it straight away. Locality is very important to me too and I like the identification with place in the name.

[Blackbird]

Sidhe said:

I would like to know more about druidry, it's something that calls to me in some way. I wouldn't call myself a druid now, as I haven't done any study. I was looking at the obod course a while ago, but can't afford it

I began doing the OBOD courses in the early 90s, but quickly got to the realisation that they weren't right for me. That's not to say they are not worth doing - I know many people who have got a great deal out of them. Just that they were not what I was looking for. Too much stuff based on Robert Graves and Iolo Morgannwg, without any acknowledgement that these were dubious sources in many ways.

It's perfectly possible to study on your own, it just takes a bit more discipline.

[branynos]

Blackbird said:

Definitely. (Though I do think it's a trait of modern paganism that everyone wants to be a priest.)

What I've noticed is a growing number of people don't particularily want to be priests but that the main 'traditions' druidry, wicca and shamanism tend to push you that way because they're based on priest traditions (thats the wrong word but its the closest I can get) so they become, as one person put it, 'bog standard pagan'. Wicca is slighlty different because its designed to be a inititory priest/ess tradition. For the Celts and the shamans most of the writings focus on that "spiritual guide for a community" element. I was quite happy to call myself a Brythonic Shaman at one point till after discussion I realised that I didn't have a community/tribe to guide so while I use shamanic techniques I don't think I should claim the title Shaman.

I find looking at British folklore, Hinduism, Shintoism and whats known about the pagan Hellenic paths can begin to inform a more family centred practice that doesn't need a priest to 'oversee' it.

. But then, even some CR stuff seems quite 'Wiccany' to me, still including things like circle casting, calling quarters and stuff.

I know what you mean. I'm trying to work with "Land, Sea, Sky" rather than the four (or five if you include Spirit) elements of Wicca and modern druidry. Its pretty much uncharted terrority so I'm taking very small steps and checking back against sources when I can, but it had that instant "aha" feel about it when I came across it (not for the first time something just clicked about three years ago).

[Blackbird]

Take a look at the Roman practices too - there is scope made there for family religious practices, with the 'man of the house' officiating on behalf of other family members. I think most houses had little private shrines.

I know a few people who have taken on the mantle of 'shaman' who I much admire. For these people, it is something that they have undertaken almost unwillingly. Although the practices are for the community, in many ways, the Shaman becomes someone outside of the community, belonging neither to the people, nor the Gods. Quite a lonely and dangerous road to walk imho...

Land, Sea and Sky... I feel another thread coming on, lol! ;D

[branynos]

Blackbird said:

I know a few people who have taken on the mantle of 'shaman' who I much admire. For these people, it is something that they have undertaken almost unwillingly. Although the practices are for the community, in many ways, the Shaman becomes someone outside of the community, belonging neither to the people, nor the Gods. Quite a lonely and dangerous road to walk imho...

I agree with you, for a short while I was 'sucked in' by the 'new age shaman lite' version but once I began to study and talk to Shamans it became obvious that I didn't have the depth of 'calling' and to continue to use the title would have been insulting to those who did.

Having said that when you look again at some of the British material (Merlin Wyllts madness, Rhonabwys Dream Gwions transformations, the burning tree etc) you begin to see the remmnants of shamanic techniques in the tales.
Whether its a memory of the Shamans of the pre-Celtic inhabitants or the roots of the druid tradition one can only speculate.

[blackwitch]

great article blackbird!!! ;D

bb
Moira

[Blackbird]

Having said that when you look again at some of the British material (Merlin Wyllts madness, Rhonabwys Dream Gwions transformations, the burning tree etc) you begin to see the remmnants of shamanic techniques in the tales.
Whether its a memory of the Shamans of the pre-Celtic inhabitants or the roots of the druid tradition one can only speculate.

Indeed. I would speculate that there was a great deal of continuity between the Druid tradition and earlier practices. It is now thought that 'Celticity' was something that happened to existing populations, rather than the product of mass invasion. So it makes sense to me that there would have been a survival of many concepts from earlier times - though we will never be able to prove it. (Until I invent that time machine...)

I also agree that there are many things that can be seen as Shamanic within Celtic cultures. The only problem I have is the terminology. Perhaps I'm just being really pedantic, but it would be nice to have a better word for these practices. The use of the word 'Shamanic' has quite a few problems for me.

Any suggestions?

[branynos]

The Matthews (Caitlin & John) have suggested Awenyddion.

Based on a passage a passage in the "Itinerarum Cambriae" by Gerald of Wales

"there are certain persons in Cambria... called Awenyddion, or people inspired; when consulted upon any doubtful event they roar out violently, are rendered beside themselves, and become, as it were possessed by a spirit..."

I'm not convinced thes Awenyddion have the full range of skills/roles that Shamans had but its the only word I've ever seen proposed as a local alternative, apart from druid itself

[goldenhand]

We've got an Encyclopaedia entry for Awenyddion - I was reading it the other day

Hard to say what their skills were, and we'll probably never know. But I like the word, so perhaps we should reclaim it for ourselves? After all, people use 'Druid' to mean all sorts of things that it never meant before

Blessings,

Angharad

[Craig]

Hi Blackbird

Always with the questions this one, yet she has already got the answers as can be sen from her article.....

Blackbird knows me well and knows that I am druid from the stubbly hair on my head to the tips of my toes. Thus my answers will be biased.

1. What opinions do the rest of you hold on 'Druidry'?
It is obvious that some here hold little with the 'men in bedsheets' public face of some druid orders. I should assure you that this has little, if nothing, to do with the modern practice of druidry.

The majority of the druids that I know are neither 19th century revivalists, nor Wiccan sun-worshippers, nor even celtic reconstructionalists. Most of us are deeply involved in rediscovering and reawakening a spiritual approach to the Land and the Awen.

Some do this through deep scholarship, others by recreating the shamanic methodology that our ancestors most probably practiced. Then there are the feral druids. Druids who learnt their craft out in the woods and valleys of this sacred land, only latterly finding some correspondence with the term 'druid'.

2. What does the word mean to you?

Everything and nothing. It is a title that is fought over and defiled by the foolish, yet is a key to unlocking our past.

3. Does it have relevance to your personal practice?

Yes. well you shouldn't ask closed questions should you . I have chosen to identify my practice with the term 'druidry' for it is the most appropriate and commonly understood label available at this time.

4. Do you have any words that define your practice?

Feral. Blessed. Cursed. Misguided. Loving.

Will that do for now?

Blessings,
Craig /|\

[Blackbird]

craig said:

Always with the questions this one, yet she has already got the answers as can be seen from her article.....

Thanks for the vote of confidence I've got some answers, but they are not the only ones...

Most of us are deeply involved in rediscovering and reawakening a spiritual approach to the Land and the Awen.

And that's something that we definitely hold in common. Approaching the same place from different angles, perhaps. This also attracts me to this 'Awenyddion' idea... I was having some revelations on this just as I woke up this morning and I'll try to set something down in writing shortly.

Feral. Blessed. Cursed. Misguided. Loving.

Wise words as ever