Wicca Spirit Newsletter Druids, Druidry, Druidism

Many people when they hear the term Druid tend to think of old men with long beards, wearing white robes and carrying a staff or of individuals, also usually robed in white, at Stonehenge at the Summer Solstice. Both images are stereotypes. In modern Druidry there are just as many women as there are men; for many Stonehenge, while impressive, is not as important to them as local sites; and many, if they wear robes at all, prefer more practical colors than white.

Like most Pagan paths Druidry is a nature based path. OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids) says

"Druidry encourages us to love widely and deeply,"

while the BDO (British Druid Order) says that:

"One of the strongest trends in Druidry today is the growth of ecological awareness and activism. Such concerns come naturally to a philosophy that has always regarded trees, stones, springs, rivers, lakes, hills and mountains as sacred and imbued with spirit."

Druidry also draws heavily on Celtic tradition and myth and the Celtic metaphysic. Druidry is a personal journey. It is about developing your relationship with the Land, the Ancestors, the Gods and other beings. It is about inspiration and creativity. Druidry is a path that encourages you to learn, to experience things, to develop as an individual. It is also a path that encourages you to be rooted in the world we live in, to be aware of it and to work to improve it in whatever way you can. If you think Druidry might be for you then read up on it and talk to any Druids you know. If it is the right choice for you then you will feel it in your heart, you will know it is right for you.

Ancient Druidry

Druids were an intellectual and religious caste among the tribal peoples of pagan Europe and were custodians of their cultural and spiritual heritage in the centuries before our Common Era (BCE). They practiced their rites in urban shrines and woodland groves, holding the natural world as sacred, in particular honoring certain trees, plants and animals, rivers, lakes and springs.

Historians generally associate Druids with the Iron Age Celtic culture that spread out from central Europe from about 800 to 200 BCE, yet the Celtic people of Gaul maintained that Druidry originated in Britain and that Druids from continental Europe came here to study.

Archaeological evidence suggests that many aspects of Celtic religious practice derived from much earlier traditions. For example, the layout of Celtic ritual sites often echoes those of the Neolithic period with bank and ditch enclosures, internal settings of posts and astronomical alignments.

Remnants of Druid 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.

The 18th century saw a Druid revival, inspired by a renewed interest in Classical and medieval Celtic literature and antiquarian studies of ancient sacred sites. This revival had links with Non-conformist Christianity, Freemasonry and revolutionary politics.

Druidry Today

The late 20th century has witnessed another renaissance in Druidry, inspired by the renewed interest in alternative spiritualities from the 1960s, by the 'green' movement and by contact with other Nature-based spiritual traditions, notably modern Witchcraft and the 'shamanic' cultures of North America and elsewhere.

There are now some 35 Druid groups in Britain alone, with a further 300 or so worldwide.

Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids

From the OBOD website:

The Druid Tradition represents one of the wellsprings of inspiration of the Western Spiritual Tradition. Even though its roots are ancient, it is as relevant and alive today as it ever has been.

All spiritualities grow and change, and Druidism has changed too - and now it is experiencing a Renaissance. Druidry has become a vital and dynamic Nature-based spirituality that is flourishing all over the world.

It is a spirituality that unites our love of the Earth with our love of creativity and the Arts. And flowing through all the exciting new developments in modern Druidry is the power of an ancient tradition: the love of land, sea and sky - the love of the Earth our home.

The Order's home study course has been at the forefront of this modern renaissance since it was launched in 1988, and since then over 8000 people have walked this path to the Sacred Grove. Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at the University of Bristol, says in his book The Druids (Hambledon Continuum 2007) "The OBOD correspondence course arguably represents one of the major documents of British spirituality from the late twentieth century." In 2006 an audio version of the Bardic grade course was introduced. For further information about the Order's home study course click here.

British Druid Order

The British Druid Order is an international organization, once described as "religion without the boring bits."

From an initial grove established in Sussex in the late 1970s, the BDO was the brainchild of Philip Shallcrass, a Druid since 1974 and a High Priest of Alexandrian Wicca since 1979. Philip, or Greywolf (his Druid name), was recently described by Prof. Ronald Hutton as "a shaman quite convincingly disguised as a Druid." This reflects the fact that the BDO sees the Druids of old as having been the 'shamans' of Britain and Europe, a role they may still undertake today. The process of reconstructing Druidry as a spiritual system answering to the needs of the 21st century is referred to by the BDO as "rekindling the sacred fire."

From the BDO website:

The British Druid Order (BDO) was formed in 1979 as part of a personal quest to recreate a native British spirituality and is currently under the guidance of founder, Philip Shallcrass (Greywolf, aka Wolf Walks With Fire) as Chief, with Sparrowhawk taking responsibility for the BDO Office providing administration of a new membership list and coordinating a band of dedicated volunteers.

The BDO works with native British tradition. 'British' is used not in a narrow political or nationalistic sense, but to evoke a time when the two islands of Ierne (Ireland) and Albion (England, Scotland and Wales) were jointly known as the Pretannic Isles, from Pretani, 'the Painted People,' our ancient spiritual and physical ancestors.

Drawing inspiration from the sacred land and from our ancestry whose myths and mysteries are the wellspring of our tradition. Druidry in its heyday was a pan-European tradition, so we seek to recreate an understanding of Druidry as the native spirituality not only of Britain, but also of Europe. This process of restoration involves recovering a sense of the sacred in all areas of our lives so that we can begin to heal our society, our land and ourselves.

Although we work with the long spiritual and cultural heritage of Britain, we are not bound by any one aspect of it. We are not seeking to recreate a Druidry that may have existed 5000, 2000, 200 or 50 years ago. We see Druidry as a process of constant change and renewal whereby the tradition is continually recreated to address the needs of each generation. The BDO strives to be an active agent in that process.

The Druid Network

Druid Network Website

The Druid Network is a British druidic (neo-pagan) organization aiming to be a source of information and inspiration about modern Druidic traditions, practices and their histories. It was founded in February 2003 by Emma Restall Orr, a leading voice in British Druidry.

The Druid Network was created to act as an internet framework, making tangible the spirit-web that is the global community of the Druid tradition and other natural philosophies and Paganisms. Like a sacred well, the Network aims to offer a blend of inspiration and information, yet not only from words presented as articles and ideas. In the spirit of the oral tradition of our ancestors and our heritage, the power of the Druid Network is in the encounters it enables between individuals, soul to soul, mind to mind : people walking together upon the same road.

A major project of The Druid Network is called "Honoring the Ancient Dead," a program developed in cooperation with the Manchester Museum (U.K.) for the proper and dignified treatment of human remains at ancient archeological sites in the United Kingdom. The program has been reported on in "British Archeology" (Issue 77, July 2004) and "The New Statesman," (6 November 2006.)

The structure of the Network is based on Druidic and pagan tenets. It therefore claims no hierarchy, but for administrative purposes numerous categories of membership are constitutionally defined, as are lines of communication. The governing Committee consists of selected Staff Members, chosen by the previous Committee from all applicants.

The Network comprises working project areas on four continents as well as its British home: Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania. The Network does not, however, simply focus on members. They work for the wider Druid community and the world at large through teaching and program in areas of ethics, ecology, and spirituality. The website offers members and nonmembers alike a large variety of options for active engagement.

The heart of The Druid Network is the Druid Order of the Yew, a community of pagan Druids bound together from the several continents of the Network to seek a common spiritual path.

Across the globe many Druid Groves and other Druidic organizations are affiliated with The Druid Network. The Druid Network Across North America is composed of sixteen Regions, most headed by Regional Coordinators. Its purpose is to assist Druid Groups and individuals in the practice of Druid spirituality, to seek to define what Druidry means in North America, and to identify and coordinate programs for social action and ethical awareness. Similar manifestations of the Network can be found in Spain, the Netherlands, France, Brazil, and Oceania.

The Druid Network organizes the Lammas Games an annual Bardic festival of sports, songs and storytelling.

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