The Druid Way

by Philip Carr-Gomm
Published by Thoth Publications (2006)

Description

In "The Druid Way", Philip Carr-Gomm takes us on a journey through the sacred landscape of Southern Britain, and as he does so, we learn about Druidry as a living tradition of the land and its people, a tradition that is as relevant today as it was for our ancestors. As we walk the ancient tracks across the South Downs we encounter dragons and giants, ancestral voices and ancient places that speak to us of the beauty of a spiritual way that still exists and can still be followed. We learn how Druidry can help us to sense again our kinship with Nature, and how following the Druid Way can lead us towards a profound sense of oneness with all life. This new edition has been extensively revised and includes the complete ceremonies of three Rites of Passage, a guide to the sacred sites of Sussex and a Foreword by Cairisthea Worthington.

Review

Review by Kevan Manwaring

This is a welcome new edition of a book that has been unavailable for a while. It charts Carr-Gom’s journey from his adopted home town of Lewes to the hill giant of the Long Man of Wilmington on many planes. Like fellow pilgrims of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, sharing tales along the way, we accompany Carr-Gom on his perambulations and it is like going on a multi-dimensional ramble with a wise and witty guide, and though we enter perilous territory – coming face to face with our/the Land’s woundedness – we know we’re in safe hands with this Chief Druid who takes us there and back again across a transfigured Sussex landscape, mythologised by his imagination, research and experiential encounters.

Finding the universal in the particular, Carr-Gom’s windings created a Sussex Dreamtime, in which each tump and copse, stream and curve, gains significance – the dance of the God and the Goddess, Child and Crone, across the land. Past, present and future, otherworld and this world merge – in a style reminiscent of Magic Realism, as the magical interrupts the mundane in unexpected ways. Giants throw rocks at each other across the South Downs; spritely nymphs and noble horse goddesses lead Carr-Gom further up the garden path – the Bonny Road – a Rhymer on the borders of Elfland, a Don Quixote of the Weald.

This subjectively imaginative approach to, effectively, Local Studies, is now deemed psycho-geography and has become cultishly fashionable, but is in effect as old as the hills. Our ancestors walked this land with the same awareness, and Carr-Gom, leading by example, walking his talk, gently encourages us to do the same. It is a journey we begin at our birth, or even before – and this personal odyssey is framed by such crossings over; tragic deaths which challenge and affirm one’s belief system (as beautifully compounded in the ceremony of passing included in full) and the Appendices usefully provides guidelines for other key rites-of-passage; along with suggestions for further reading for those wishing to plunge into the wildwood of Druidry.

It is a shame the fabulous map created by Bill Worthington for the original edition (Element Books, 1993) isn’t included in this new version as a fold-out, as it charmingly renders Carr-Gom’s stomping ground as ‘Middle-Earth’ – an example of what can be done with one’s own neck of the woods – but perhaps it will be possible to order this separately. The book is nevertheless well-produced, with a lovely new cover and layout.

Whether you are interested in the Sussex landscape or not this book provides an inspiring guide as to how to interact with any landscape (‘Go on a journey. Start here – where you live’). It challenges us to connect with wherever we live; with each other; our loved and lost ones; and with the sundered or neglected aspects of ourselves. It is a journey to wholeness, to balance – epitomised by the ambiguous Long Wo/Man. As Carr-Gom keeps reminding us, there is no separation.

Paperback
Publisher: Thoth Publications, 2006 www.thoth.co.uk
ISBN: 1870450620

Buy this book from amazon.co.uk

Buy this book from amazon.com

To submit your own review of this book email the Reviews Co-ordinator

Back to top

Back to Book Reviews