The Druid Network

This is expanded upon here

This is expanded upon here

This is expanded upon here

If we define ‘religion’ as a spiritual practice that involves devotion, reverence or worship of deity or a divine principal, then the Druid tradition is a religion.

However, because many Druids find the word religion too entangled in associations of hierarchical, dogmatic, liturgically-based monotheism, the word itself is sometimes avoided. The preferred word is often ‘spirituality’, as this some feel better implies the autonomy and freedom of Druidic religious understanding and expression. Druidry is, nonetheless, a religion.

The Druid Networks success in 2010 with the Charities commission means that it is recognized as a body to promote druidry as a religion.

While The Druid Network engages with people of all faiths and none, the tenets and objectives of its Constitution are based upon Druidry as a religion, ancient and modern.

No. Druidry has no asserted dogma that tightly defines how to perceive deity, instead allowing each individual to explore and experience their own connection with the divine and the sacred. Indeed, this pluralism is central to Druidry, experience of deity being central to Druidic practice rather than the acceptance of any imposed belief.

The majority of Druids do profess to be polytheistic, however. Their gods express every aspect of existence.  Some are forces of nature that are obvious, such as sun, moon, star, earth, river, rain, corn and mountain.  Some are powers of nature that hold the fabric of existence, such as fertility, love, gravity, death, hunger, fate and regeneration.  And some gods are ancestral forces, powers that guide us as human beings in our relationship with the nonhuman world and with each other, being gods such as those of justice, trade and communication. Some refer to their gods with the names and teachings found in our myths, history and folktales, while others use personal and private names for their gods.

It is important to remember that, even if a Druid does not actively revere a particular deity, he will not dismiss a god as nonexistent.  Polytheistic Druids may choose to nurture relationships with some gods and not with others.  For example, a Druid may focus upon the gods of his own locality, such as the deity of the river that passes through his town, or the sea if he lives on the coast, a local mountain or range of hills, the earth itself if he is particularly dependend upon its fertility, or the gods worshipped by ancestors of that landscape (evident, for example, in locally found Romano-British inscriptions).  Many Druids will have very strong relationships with two or three gods, a good working relationship with a dozen or so more, and knowledge a perhaps twenty or thirty beyond that.  A Druid will accept the existence of all gods, even if he knows nothing about them.

The majority of Druids would also call themselves pantheistic.  To the Druid, the word ‘nature’ is used to define the totality of existence: everything there is, human and nonhuman, upon the earth and into the furthest reaches beyond.  Because Druidry is pluralistic, the word ‘universe’ tends to be avoided, as it implies there to be a unity or oneness which cannot be proven. Nature, however, describes the wholeness. For the pantheist, this wholeness might be referred to as deity.

Some may consider this wholeness to be the supreme divine principal, the great god, the source or ultimate mystery, and so be practising pantheists; others prefer to revere this wholeness through some of the many gods that are integral to its being, and so be better described as practising polytheists.

Druidry is essentially an animistic tradition in that Druids consider all aspects of nature to be inspirited or have soul; in other words, every aspect of nature has its own inherent value and purpose.  Some would go further and say that at every layer of nature, from the micro- to the macrocosmic, from the subatomic to the galactic, there is consciousness.

A Druid is likely, then, to acknowledge a tree, river or stone to have spirit, or soul, or consciousness.  This consciousness is as different from human consciousness as a stone’s nature is different from human nature.  However, perceiving the stone in this way the Druid recognises its sanctity, its history and its place within the environment.  Animism provides an ethical foundation based upon respecting every aspect of nature in this way.

Another way of understanding animism is to affirm that Druidic religion is not dualistic in its outlook.  Nature is the wholeness – boundless – the Gods are the Gods of nature. Therefore nature is the creative force, perpetually self-creating, without beginning or end.  Druids acknowledge this creativity in and through every interaction with that same nature.

Druids revere nature and the changing cycle of the year, and their celebrations reflect this. Whether celebrating in groups (known as Groves) or individually, they will honour this ever changing relationship through ‘the cycle of the year’.

Since the mid twentieth century, this cycle – also known as the wheel of the year – has been made up of eight festivals: Samhain (31 October), Winter Solstice (21 December), Imbolc (2 February), Spring Equinox (21 March), Beltane (1 May), Summer Solstice ( 21 June), Lammas (1 August) and Autumn Equinox (21 September).

Of these the Summer Solstice is the most well known to the general public, with its relationship to the celebrations at Stonehenge. Some Druids will only celebrate the seasonal festivals (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lammas), others focus on the solar festivals (the solstices and equinoxes). In addition some groups may celebrate the cycle of the moon.

Druids have had a long history of being connected with Stonehenge at the solar festivals and many feel it to be an important temple. However, because Druids feel too the importance of tribe and locality, those who don’t live close to Stonehenge tend to have a less connection with it, if any at all, preferring temples (ancient and modern) closer to home.

Given the huge numbers who now attend this ancient monument at dawn on 21 June each year, very few Druids are present on this date (often less than a few dozen amidst the 20 000 revellers). Many Druid groups have private access to the temple close to the solstice but away from the crowds, giving them the peace and space to meditate with the stones, the ancestors and the sun.

Strictly speaking, when we ask ‘who were the Druids’, we are speaking of the intellectual caste of ‘Celtic’ society, what many understand to be preRoman culture of Iron Age Europe, through the first century BCE (before the Common Era or the birth of Christ). Druids were to the Celts what Brahmins were to within Hindu society: the leaders, lawyers, poets, teachers, physicians, artists, and priests of society. In this way, ‘Druid’ is a functional term, not an ethnic or religious one, albeit within its own cultural context.

Recent archaeological excavations have pushed back the the timeframe in which the historical druids may have been active. There has been speculation comparatively recently surrounding the idea of the Druids being active around the time of the early incarnations of Stonehenge.  But it is in Orkney that we currently have the oldest (to date) building speculated to have been used for spiritual activity.  This discovery has resulted in many historians re-evaluating the commonally held idea that early British spiritual activity originated in southern Britain and spread north. Whereas we can’t make a definate link between these sites and the ancient Druids at this time, it does demonstrate that spiritual activity in Britain has its roots in a much earlier time to what was considered before.

Many Druids are not so specific when they look back on the history of their heritage, acknowledging that the priests of that Iron Age society and before would have held the legacy of their ancestors. Extend Druidry into prehistory and many feel their Druidry roots back simply into the priesthood of ancient Britain and Europe. The recent discoveries, for some, speculatively add weight to this belief.

No one can trace a birth lineage of Druids from old times to the present, though some try and some maintain documented claims to prove it.

The spirit of the Green World, however, has a life of its own. It surrounds and enfolds us, whether human culture and history are aware of it or not. From time to time this spirit – the spirit of Druidry – breaks in upon the world anew, and expresses itself in new places and new contexts. In this way, contemporary Druids are both new, and old.

Most of the artwork and poetry we have portraying Druids dates from the Romantic revival of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a time of rampant patriarchy, and therefore women are noticeably absent.

But in the old tales, Celtic women shared status and authority with men. To mention just three who were sorceresses as well as warriors – Scathach in Scotland, who trained the great Irish hero Cuchulain; Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni peoples in south eastern Britain; and Aoife in Ireland, who changed King Lir’s children into swans.

Contemporary Druidry is practised by women and men alike, carrying on its established tradition. The balance is around equal, though on many internet forums it may feel as if there are more men than women posting comments, and in workshops there are often more more women than men present. At public ritual, there is often a more balanced ratio.

Druids are often polytheistic and/or pantheistic, so their attitude is naturally pluralistic, and thus accepting of others’ beliefs and ideas. A person’s measure is taken by their actions, their generosity, honesty and responsibility, not by the names of the gods they swear by.

Most simply said, “you can if you choose to” The Druid Network is an organisation whose basic tenets are pagan, and which operates with a minimal hierarchy and an inclusive ethos.

TDN has members who are Christians, some of whom may be ordained ministers in Christian churches. But Christianity is as wide ranging as Druidry, and while some churches will teach a Christianity that disallows concepts that are normal within modern Druidry others happily hold the teachings of Christ within a landscape where deity appears in many different forms. Look at examples such as the Culdee or Celtic Christian Church. So, ultimately, what is the Christianity you are seeking to be a Druid with? It may be there is learning to be done before being able to answer this question for yourself.

Others find no inspiration in the authority of the Christian churches and find connection with other gods. For many (perhaps most) Druids there is a recognition that deity is not and cannot be separate from nature; that the physical world is deity incarnate on a voyage of self exploration and not a creation of a transcendent and supernatural deity. Indeed, nothing can be supernatural; the word has no meaning in this context. Such beliefs are in direct conflict with most teachings of Christianity. Likewise for some their understanding is filled with individual deities, which is Christian heresy.

It might be of value here to note that the earliest Druids were of course pre-Christian and therefore not Christians. It is worth noting that for much of the recorded history of the lands where Druids were said to be, the defining religion of the times was Christianity (not always a Christianity we would recognise now, but Christianity nonetheless). Druids or scholars of Druidry in Britain throughout what is known as the Romantic Era lived in a Christian society and would likely have called themselves Christians (in public at least). Later Druids sought to reconnect with the ideas of the pre-Christians and perhaps the majority of Druids now are post-Christian or entirely pagan.

At TDN we hold great worth in the phrase “Honourable Relationship”. We are not a Teaching Order and will not drive you toward or away from any gnosis you might experience. We are not all Christian Druids, but you can be if you choose to be.

This is a complex question that many have spent a good deal of time on, for answers can vary according to the individual practice of those who are responding to the question. If someone has studied a great deal of Wicca before moving into Druidry, their Druidic practice may well reflect that.

The distinguishing features given here may appear generalisations and extremes, but they still hold some validity.

In Wicca, it is common to honour the goddess and her divine consort, while Druids tend to be more polyethistic and animistic. Deity is often acknowledged as most important in Wicca, together with anthropomorphised spirits or entities, while Druidry tends to honour the environment, spirits of place, and the ancestors first. Druidry is very much focused upon Britain and Ireland (with some finding its heritage within other European landscapes), its gods and mythologies being of these islands, while Wicca more readily works with gods from any tradition, land and culture.

Wicca often has a focus on creating change through spell working to improve lives, while the focus in Druidry is inspiration and creativity. In Wicca, the cardinal directions and four elements of earth, air, fire and water, are always key, while in Druidry these can be left out, the focus as often being upon the three worlds of earth, sea and sky.

Wiccan ritual groups (covens) tend to be closed, held in private, and are often fairly secretive; Druid ritual groups (groves) are usually open. Wicca is generally an initiatory tradition and formally taught whereas Druidry is more personal and experiential, its teachings openly accessible. Wiccan ritual is more often held indoors, while Druid ritual is usually held outside.

Many teachers and teaching groups will give instruction in Druidry moving from one element of the tradition to the next, starting with Bard, moving through Ovate to Druid. Some Welsh and Irish systems include other elements of the tradition. This is thought to be traditional and useful, the student building upon skills one by one.

However, many who have trained long and hard within Druidry, having studied all the levels, find they naturally tend towards the one where they are most skilled. Some don’t proceed in training, stopping where they feel comfortable.

Those who don’t go through any formal training are as likely to feel they have skills naturally in one area or another, feeling the distinction between the three (or more) roles is not important.

Some Druid Orders, Groves or groups do insist that a student learns one of the old Celtic languages – Welsh, Breton, Manx, Irish Gaelic, Cornish or one of the Scottish languages. This is most often true of groups that are either based in the Celtic diaspora, especially Australia and North America, where Druidry is very much a religious tradition of ancestral roots, or of reconstructionist groups in Britain and Ireland. There is certainly often felt a rich benefit can be gained, and a deeper connection to the ancestors made, when we know the language.

There are as many groups who feel it is more important to live honourably and pour time and energy into an immediately relevant skill or task than spend time learning an ancestral language if it is not local to where you are living.

The ancient Druids left no written texts of their own of any kind, so our perceptions of their beliefs and mythology have to be made by inference from two sources. The first are the accounts of Greek and Roman writers, who were their contemporaries, albeit often hostile and variably-informed ones. The second is the much later literatures of medieval Wales and Ireland. Both these types of source are extremely problematic and difficult to interpret.

One topic that is not addressed in either type of source is the issue of creation myths. We have absolutely no idea whatsoever how the ancient druids or Celtic peoples viewed the creation of the Universe, or what deities, spirits, or cosmic processes they may have regarded as responsible for it. This is a disappointing answer, I know, but an honest one.

This is a question that we get asked quite often. The problem is that Druidry is not a unitary body, and there are various organisations that the said grandfather could have been a member of. However, having said that, there are two allied organisations that seem to have been responsible for a good deal of the said grandfathers, and those two organisations now still exist as one body, although on a much smaller scale than was once the case.

In England is the Ancient Order of Druids. This was originally set up as a Friendly Society open only to males and operating under pseudo-masonic lines, even so far as the local groups being known as Lodges. Overseas the equivalent Order was the United Ancient Order of Druids and their groups were usually called Groves and they did allow female members their own groups known as Circles. Both these groupings now come under the International Grand Lodge of Druidism and any information that is still available may be sought through them via their website.

The Ancient Order of Druids in the UK has its own website here. However not all of the old local groups returned their records to the national Grand Lodges when they dissolved but it may be possible to obtain information from local record offices in the relevant areas.

To many Druids, a fundamental expression of their Druidic practice and perspective is a deep love of the land. Many experience a sense of devotion to the landscape where they live, and/or those that were the homelands of their ancestors. That notion of home reveals an emotional and spiritual connection, inspiring the individual to nurture, protect and care for the land. For some, this is may be no more than a few square miles; more often it is concentrated within twenty or thirty mile radius, but extends beyond that even further. For a good number, this sense of home embraces a huge chunk of land, or the entire island where they live – or their significant ancestors lived.

When a Druid speaks of this devotion, it is an expression of their connection with the land. Woven into that is the history of the land together with heritage and local culture; in other words what is also important is the way in which the ancestors lived, loved and died, how they learned to engage with the land and each other, where they succeeded and where they failed.

For someone intent on doing so, and if the boundaries of ‘home’ happen to co-incide with some current or former political boundary, it could be imagined that the Druid’s devotion is a kind of nationalism. It may also be thought that a Druid’s reverence for their ancestors (or sense of their presence, and desire to learn from them) is a rejection of other nationalities and cultures, being somehow quietly underpinned by xenophobia. Neither of these are valid understandings of Druidry.

A Druid’s love of home, expressed as devotion to the landscape and ancestors, can more accurately be equated to the love of another person; if we love one person, it does not imply that we think little of others, even less despise them. Druidry teaches us to accept and celebrate the diversity of the wholeness of nature.