North America is the third largest continent, with approximately 24.3 million square kilometers of land stretching from above the Arctic Circle to below the Tropic of Cancer, and including Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean nations, Central America, and Greenland.
1. Discovering Our Land and its Gods
We North Americans spring from a wide variety of races, ethnicities, and cultural heritages. Only a very few of us are native to this continent. Many of us who are drawn to Druidry have ancestors who migrated here from many lands, generations ago. We long for the heritage of our ancestors of blood, and we are intrigued by the heritage of our ancestors of place, but in many ways we are separated from both. As Druids, it is our calling to learn how to listen to, converse with, relate to, and care for, our adopted land. The vision we ask of the Druid Network is the teaching and guidance to enable us to do so.
2. Supporting Solitary as Well as Communal Practice
This is a vast continent. The land area of Celtic Britain, Scotland and Ireland together would fit on the North American continent about 78 times. Though Druidry is by nature a communal expression of spirituality, for generations to come we North American Druids will most often be solitary. The vision we ask for The Druid Network is the teaching and guidance to assist us in the practice of solitary as well as communal Druidry, supporting those who, by choice or location, are practising their Druidry in a solitary manner.
3. Affirming Our Vast Diversity
This is a vast continent, stretching from well above the Arctic Circle to well below the Tropic of Cancer, from Arctic tundra to Caribbean rain forest. There is no “North American” ethos. Truly, there is not a “Canadian” or “US” or “Mexican” ethos. The vision we ask of ourselves is the wisdom and grace to understand, respect, and affirm the regional ethos and spirituality of each recognizably distinct region, and to affirm a great unity in a great diversity.
4. Living Real Ethical and Social Commitments
The great nations of this vast continent all experienced, in their founding, a sense of the frontier, bringing forth good in us as we explored and developed the unknown, and failings in us as we exploited native populations and the land. The vision we ask of ourselves is a Druidry firmly rooted in the ethics of human relationships, social consciousness, and ecological responsibility.
For more information, contact the Druid Network Office.
