Archive - Druidry

Attracted by the Druids: England on Sunday Number: 5756 Date: Feb 18, 2005
HONOURING THE ANCIENT DEAD: Emma Restall Orr, British Archaeology, July 2004
Druids enjoy a mystical renaissance: James Kilner, Reuters, Nov 14, 2004

 

England on Sunday

Attracted by the Druids Number: 5756 Date: Feb 18, 2005
By Ian Dewar

“Can we meet after my son has gone away to school?” said the e-mail from Emma Restall Orr. Emma, known as Bobcat, is Head of the Druid Network: more from her in a moment.

A recent event held by Inform at the LSE on December 4 was entitled ‘Growing up in a New Religion’. The day was a smorgasbord of contributions on the effects of being a second generation member of what is loosely termed a New Religious Movement (NRM). This is any spiritual movement that identifies itself as significantly different from existing expressions of spiritual practice and belonging.

Perhaps our initial view of alternative spiritual practices is of odd fringe activities. This is a false impression. They are now firmly part of the religious landscape of our culture with even the Civil Service recognising Paganism as a legitimate religious practice with distinct festivals. (Would the Church of England have originally been an NRM?)

Inform seminars are held under Chatham House rules to enable free exchange of thought. It was this exchange that struck me has having enormous value in a culture where any form of perceived religious difference or fringe activity is instinctively viewed with suspicion.

This desire for freedom lies at the heart of the spiritual journey of Bobcat whom I first met at an Inform meeting in 2003. She resurfaced into my conscious mind when my wife pointed her out conducting an alternative wedding featured in a mainstream woman’s magazine. Clearly druidism was moving in from the fringe.

I met Bobcat at her home. She is not your caricature of a Druid. But then, anyone who carries around with them a mental picture of Getafix, the Druid in the Asterix stories needs to re-assess. As Bobcat points out of her own spiritual journey, “the aim is to be in a position to learn.”

Why should something that once would have been considered esoteric, now command attention, and what can be learnt from this shift in perspective?

Bobcat was born in South West London but spent the first 20 years of her life in a variety of cultures; Denmark, Spain, Venezuela. Was this significant? “Yes,” she claims. “Apart from my family’s inherent culture, my spiritual influences did not come from Britain until I was 20.” It is worth asking, how much of our view of spirituality is culturally shaped?

What major moments in Bobcat’s life have shaped her spirituality? Three seem to dominate.

The first relates to when she was sent to boarding school. She found the school to be insular and felt isolated by its hierarchy, expectation of unearned respect and isolation from its local environment. At the age of 15 she was expelled and it was then that she first met the person who was later to become her husband. Leaving home at 16 she moved in with David at 17.

In the background of all this were her perceptions and experiences of spirituality. She describes moments when living in South America when the family would “spend several weeks in the Amazon and of a night time I could hear the local Indians singing to the various spirits, with a strong sense of being engaged in the process of life and death.”

Christianity? “My experience was of a mainly ex-pat British Christianity.” The lacklustre voice, rightly or wrongly, frames the answer. It perhaps explains why in one of her books she refers to Christianity as, “another invading force”.

A second major influence came at the age of 18 when she was living in Japan. There she got a job as a stage manager for a group of Papua New Guineans. They were travelling Japan to raise money to save their valley from commercial exploitation. The group’s ritual dance on stage “affected me deeply. But also I was stuck by the tragedy of what seemed a prostitution of spirituality.”

At this stage a third influence was at work. David was reading philosophy at Oxford and Bobcat began to share in this. It was wide ranging: Plato, Hume, Locke, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, but also the Hindu Vada, Shinto, Ghandi and some Alistair Crowley. Other factors converged. “I have a genetic nerve disorder and I was seeking meaning through darkness and pain.”

The condition made her suicidal, a situation exacerbated by prescribed drugs.

“It was here that I first encountered a turning point. I made a decision to live. I still hold onto this as a conscious decision and therefore it is a key part of my spirituality and craft.”

What is this spirituality? “It is not worth living unless you are wide-awake.” Bobcat began to seek a system that would work for her and at the same time dedicated herself to living in Britain. She sees Paganism as, ‘demanding a decision to live’. It is “looking out at all the spiritual resources and working out what works for you.” Druidism is her craft, her expression of Paganism.

Bobcat is keen to stress Paganism and balks at the term New Age. To her it is dismissive and reflects a commercialisation of spirituality.

But how can you be a Pagan in a scientific age? “Paganism,” she explains, “reflects the genus of a culture and individuals. It connects individuals and communities to the non human world.”

This sense of connection is a key feature of Paganism. “There is,” she continues, “no sense whatsoever in Paganism that human beings are special. It is about humanity’s connectedness to the web of the spirit.”

This brings me up sharp. In his book, ‘Science A History’, John Gribbin states, “The most important thing that science has taught us about our place in the Universe is that we are not special.”

Is Paganism just a spiritual add on to secular life? “No, it is a sense of the sacred. Five thousand years ago it described life then, now it describes contemporary culture.” She continues, “There is nothing in scientific discovery that could negate Paganism, it can only enrich its perspective.”

The report, Mission-shaped Church states that such a church, ‘engages with culture’ (p82). It also needs to be a listening and apologetic shaped church. We do not reflect the sense of the sacred or the values that underpin our culture. We have some catching up to do.

To return to the Inform seminar, the last point should be hats off to Inform’s Information Officer, Amanda Van Eck Duymaer Van Twist. Her presentation on the way NRMs accommodate children was both informative and brave, given that representatives of some of those NRMs were present. The fact that they challenged her views and drew out relevant discussion and nuances indicated clearly that the contemporary religious map of Britain is no simple issue.

British Archaeology - July 2004 Issue 77 p.39

Placing human bones in boxes, says Emma Restall Orr, disrespects our
ancestors
HONOURING THE ANCIENT DEAD

What distinguishes archaeology from grave robbery? It's a question I
asked as a child, confused by the enthusiasm of a museum guide showing
our party someone else's treasure. I'm not sure I've yet found an
answer. Is it about the passing of time since the burial was made? Or,
as with war and terrorism, simply whether or not your actions are backed
by an acceptable government?

When later I discovered there are hundreds of thousands of human bones
in museum basements, ostensibly to enable further study, I was
bewildered. That these stores of bones continue to grow surely makes it
an issue that must be addressed. It is at the heart of my work as a
priest within the modern Pagan Druid community.

Let me pose an idea: how would you feel if it were necessary, on every
dig, to be in contact with an organisation concerned with the spiritual
aspects of the work?

Such is the situation under negotiation for the new road proposals at
Stonehenge. The project team, including the Highways Agency,
construction contractors, landscape architects and archaeologists, have
acknowledged Stonehenge to be a working temple for modern Pagans, and
sacred for many others. Should the work go ahead, all site personnel
will be briefed about the sanctity of landscape and monuments.
Archaeologists will talk tp Pagan priests who will feed information back
into their faith communities worldwide. Rituals to ease environmental
and ancestral spirits will be made, and if archaeologists unearth human
remains there will be clear consultation between all parties, including
Pagan priests, as to their fate.

Stonehenge may be exceptional as an archaeological site; for Pagans the
issue of the ancient dead is the same wherever their remains are found.

The root of my spirituality is reverence for nature. Its practice is the
forging of sacred relationships within humanity and the environment. As
an oral tradition, Druidry does not anchor itself with scientific or
historical facts; instead it breathes, shaping itself through stories
ancient and modern.

Attitudes towards the ancient dead are a significant part of the clash
between Paganism and fact-searching archaeology. Within Paganism, the
dead are revered. Where known, their actions are honoured through
stories retold, their wisdom remembered. We breathe their breath,
singing the same songs, crying the same tears in the same wind and rain,
as we live within the same powers and patterns of nature. As abuse of
nature damages an environment, so to dishonour our ancestors is to shift
natural patterns. Problems ensue.

Real care may be taken by archaeologists working to find the stories,
but the lack of respect is exposed when bones are placed in boxes. When
Pagans speak of reburial, they are not demanding marked graves lauded
over with occultism or magic. They seek simply the absolute assurance of
respect. In my opinion, reburial of every bone shard is not necessary:
ritual is.

At Stonehenge, should human remains or burial/sacrificial artefacts be
found, priests will be called. Appropriate prayers and ritual will be
made to honour the dead, their stories and gifts to the gods. Once finds
are catalogued, reburial will be considered by all relevant parties.

It is my sincere hope that the relationships and agreements now being
forged at Stonehenge will set a precedent that will provoke and inspire
the archaeological community. Our society can only benefit from
archaeological exploration if its work is carried out with a deeper
respect for the ancient dead.

Emma Restall Orr is author of Living Druidry (Piatkus, 24 June) and head
of the Druid Network (druidnetwork.org)

Reuters - Sun Nov 14, 2004 03:09 AM ET

Druids enjoy a mystical renaissance
By James Kilner

(Note by Kestrel: Morgan Adams is Groves Co-ordinator for both the British Druid Order and The Druid Network. She does not work for OBOD!)

AVEBURY (Reuters) -

The druid turned and raised his wooden staff, pointing to the sky.

" We call upon the powers of the south, the inner fire of the sun and the island of fire," he cried. "We seek the blessing of the great stag in the heat of the chase. Spirits of the south join us now in this our sacred circle. Hail and welcome."

" Hail and welcome," replied the group of pagans, druids and witches standing near Europe's largest stone circle in the small village of Avebury, 85 miles (140 km) west of London.

This was the druid ceremony of Samhuin, the Celtic new year which marks the end of the harvest season.

" It's a time for remembering dead ancestors before the darkness of winter," explained priestess Morgan Adams in Avebury's Red Lion pub after the ceremony.

She has been a druid for 10 years and works for Britain's main druid organisation the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. The order offers a three year postal course on druid basics and Adams says interest in paganism and druidry is growing at a faster rate in 21st century Britain than ever before.

" People are not finding enough insight with a Christian God," she said. "Christianity is all about having rewards when you are dead, druids are all about living life fully and reaching out."

Druids follow a personal form of philosophy, she explained, a way of getting in touch with earth's energies. Morgan uses shamanism to communicate with spirits.

" I'm not actually a shaman, though. I'm alive and to be a shaman you have to walk the space between the living and the dead," she added.

Druidry not only appeals to Britain's pagans. In 2002 Rowan Williams, shortly before he became the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England's top job, stirred controversy by taking part in a druid ceremony.

PUSHED UNDERGROUND

Druidry dates back thousands of years in Britain, but with the spread of Christianity it was steadily pushed underground. Its renaissance began in 1792 on Primrose Hill, now a public park in a wealthy north London suburb.

The actual number of pagans and druids in Britain is difficult to pin down because of the disparate nature of its beliefs said Andy Norfolk, a druid living in Cornwall, in southwest England.

" We don't have lots of temples, we don't have lots of money and there are no long lists of worshippers, but despite all this it continues to grow," said the 52-year-old landscape gardener.

In the 2001 national consensus around 30,000 people described themselves as pagan, but there was no obligation to write down a faith. Norfolk estimates there are nearer 100,000 pagans in Britain, 6,000 witches and 10,000 druids.

" In this day and age people are turning to paganism and druidry to find peace and to reconnect with nature," he said.

And the 4,000-year-old stone circles scattered throughout the British Isles are increasingly used by druids to hold ceremonies.

Historians remain divided on why they were built and the significance of the different locations.

" They were built as an early type of town hall, for people to come and discuss the issues of the day," said Cornish historian Carole Vyvyan.

Others believe they were built over ancient energy lines called leylines, to connect with nature.

Alan Neil, author of two books on leylines in southwest England, said they were put down by people before 2000 BC as a navigational tool.

" We all have a sixth sense," he said. "You just need to concentrate the mind. Animals and birds use this technique to navigate and I think early man would have used the same method."

It could be these energies which makes stone circles effective for druids, he explained.
Cornwall's smallest stone circle is in the village of Duloe, about 30 miles (50 km) west of Plymouth. Eight stones, each around 1.5 metres (five feet) high lie in a field to the side of Bob Massingham's house.

" There are more druids and pagans coming here than ever before. They come along all dressed up, do their ceremonies and leave," he said.

" This couple from California had a calling last year. They flew down here, spent the whole day in the stones and flew straight back the next day."

The stone circle still holds a superstitious sway over Duloe residents.

" A few years ago a man visited the site and chipped off a piece of rock," said Duloe local Rose Baker. "He sent it back a year later and asked us to glue it back on as the stone had brought him nothing but bad luck."

© Copyright Reuters 2004.