Fellowship & Fairydust

My experience as a follower of the druidic path has largely been a good one when it comes to the druidic community. I feel a deep spiritual and emotional connection to the core values of Druidry and also, as my family are of Celtic origins (Irish, Scottish and Welsh) to the rich Celtic history it draws from. Unfortunately, I have also discovered that, although the bracket of ‘Pagan’ is largely accepted, if not approved of or taken as seriously as other belief systems, in modern times; the branch of paganism that calls itself Druidry is still something that many people appear to feel an almost irresistible urge to mock and scorn. The following are a few points about why to do so isn’t just.

First of all, let me make one thing clear which is often at the forefront of this recurring bigotry; by following Druidry I, and most other druids, are not in any way claiming a direct blood link to the ancient Celtic druids. Because Druidry was, by and large, an oral tradition there isn’t enough written history to make such a link with any solid certainty.

Secondly; we make no claim to follow ‘identically’ what the ancient Celtic druids practiced and believed, again there is not enough information remaining to make this claim. Even so this doesn’t detract from the fact that through the study of Celtic stories, songs and poetry, through the examination of ancient druid sites and carvings, and through the comparison to modern traditions which have been handed down through the generations, especially in Celtic countries; we do have a good idea of the core values that ancient pre-Christian Druidry held to.

This study has been exponentially growing in fervour and depth for more than fifty years now. There are still many ancient texts and works that have yet to be translated into modern English, so I am certain that even more information will come to light in the next fifty years and so on. It is also worth mentioning that because Druidry was largely an oral tradition, many of the mentions of the culture and traditions of ancient pre-Christian druids were recorded by Christian sources which, in order to make the text more palatable to the church of the time, applied a certain level of Christian ‘gloss’ to the pagan cultures, stories and traditions that came before them.

To be clear this is not in any way an attack on Christianity, many conquering empires which introduce new religions into the native population have done just the same in trying to assimilate the local populations and enforce peaceful living. Also, it is worth noting that there are many modern-day Christian druids in my order, so it’s safe to say that we have no problem at all, and hold no ill will, towards modern Christianity today.

Druidry has no sacred texts, no dogma, no holy men who act as living conduits to the divine. For modern day druids the land itself fulfills all of those roles.

So, what do we believe? The answer I have found, and am still discovering even now, is so diverse that I would be here for a lifetime if I hoped to cover all of the different facets that are accepted within the druid community. For that reason, I will just examine the core ones.

We know for a fact that the ancient Celtic peoples believed in some form of an afterlife. Some believed in heaven, some in the Otherworld, some in reincarnation etc. but the fact is that all shared a belief that the soul, or spirit energy, that filled us would not just be erased by death. In this we hold the same core belief as almost all of the main world religions today, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism etc.

We know that the ancient Celtic peoples believed that all life came from one source. Some believe that source is a god or goddess, a pantheon of gods, a single deity or even just the spirit of the earth itself. In this we can also find commonality with almost all of the main world religions.

We believe that what you put out into the world you will get back. So, if you are a bad person and put out negative energy then the returning tide will bring more of the same back to you. Again, here we find a commonality to almost all world religions.

We believe that the planet was created from the same source of divine energy as humans were. Because of this we believe that we should respect the earth and try our best to live a simple life in harmony with it and the changing seasons. Again, a commonality with many other world religions.

Being a druid, community is very important. This is not unlike congregations within other belief systems. We also gather together, exchange views and knowledge to try and gain a better understanding of ourselves, our faith, and the world around us.  

Finally, we believe that there is something ‘other’ beyond humanity. Other world religions may call this the spirits of their ancestors or angels perhaps. We call them elemental spirits, the shining ones, ancestors or fair folk. 

The main difference between modern Druidry and other world religions is that we do not require dogma. We have no sacred texts to follow, and no middle men between ourselves and the divine. Druidry is far more focused on personal faith. Each person is assessed upon their individual character and actions.

Druidry has no rules saying that we must distrust, ostracise, or scorn other belief systems. In fact, for druids in my own order, it is greatly encouraged to explore as many other world religions as possible in the unending quest to try and understand and create a bond of friendship with our fellow humans. We worship knowledge, because with knowledge comes enlightenment, communication and understanding. All of these things are necessary if one holds out any hope of peace and love throughout the world.  

We also celebrate at certain times of year which match perfectly with when modern Christians celebrate. Christmas is our Yule and we celebrate death of the old and the promise of new life, as do many other faiths, Easter is our spring solstice and other faiths celebrate rebirth, as do we, Lammas is our festival of Lughnasadh and we also celebrate the harvest, and so on. In truth we have more in common than many people realise.

Even the sacred symbol of the cross, as a symbol of light and life, existed in various pagan cultures for centuries before the arrival of Christianity and even for three or four centuries before early Christians began openly adopting it as a symbol of their faith.

The simple fact is that Druidry has been given a terrible image over the years by both biased historical, fictional, or insultingly inaccurate literature, and film. The sad truth is that the word Druid, now conjures up either images of human sacrificing savages, or a bunch of spell-chanting old men with flowing robes and long white beards.

So why is Druidry as worthy of acknowledgement and understanding as the larger mainstream religions? For one there are more than 50,000 practicing druids in the world today. Compared to some of the larger world religions this may seem like a paltry figure but I’d like to remind you that each of the main world religions started with just one man and his connection to the divine. Just because one religion is smaller than another, or newer in its current incarnation, does not mean it is any less valid. All large religions started out small in the distant past and all had larger more established religions that came before them. For example: When Jesus only had 12 men following him it didn’t make his teachings any less valid or worthy of respect did it? Nor did the fact that the pagans at the time outnumbered them hugely and had been around for many centuries before this time.  

We draw on historical stories, and grow our understanding from learning about and interpreting ancient history. How is this any different than the stories in the bible, the teachings of Buddha or the Quran, etc? All of these things come from historical sources. The people who wrote them are not alive today, many people have not read the original un-translated copy for themselves, they trust the word of the linguists and historians when they say that the translations are true and accurate. All of these belief systems do not have irrefutable, solid, universally-accepted physical proof to back them up. This is why it is called faith and not fact. Again, it doesn’t make any of these belief systems, including Druidry, any less valid.

The simple fact is that, even if a person disparages the research done into the belief, culture and traditions of the Ancient pre-Christian Druids. Even if a person refuses to accept that despite the influx of Christianity, bardic academies flourished well into the 17th century and the work produced by these academies lived on into modern times and forms the basis of the druid revival. Even if a person does not share our views, beliefs, or culture. What they cannot truly justify, is telling those 50,000 plus people that their shared belief system isn’t valid or that they are somehow less deserving of respect because they are of smaller number and newer revival than other faiths.

Druidry is valid simply by the fact that 50,000 people in the world (and this number is growing every single day) all choose to hold to these core beliefs, and come together as a collective, spiritual community under the Druid name. They can call us ‘neo’ or ‘modern’ if it soothes their sensibilities. Druids are taught to respect and celebrate the diversity of other faiths, cultures, ideas and beliefs. All we ask is the same courtesy. When people think of us, they need to remember that their faith too, was small and persecuted once.

As a druid, I understand well that every person has their own path to walk. All we can do is walk the best path that we can, and respect all of the other humans doing the same. If we are all truly spiritual beings then we would take it a step further and pause to pick the sharp rocks out of the paths of others as we go. We may all walk different paths but at the end of the day we are all aiming for the same summit. In my opinion, it’s long past time that every human on the face of this earth came together and started celebrating our similarities and commonalities rather than focusing on our myriad differences.