The Druid Tradition

The Druid Tradition

http://www.druidcircle.org/avalon/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=265

Throughout the past few centuries there has, perhaps, been no group of people which have so fascinated the popular mind of those inhabiting the British Isles than the druids. Some people see them as priests from Atlantis washed ashore somewhere in Wales, while others see them as savage barbarian priests who cruelly sacrificed animals, and even people in their abominable rites. Yet, these images are heavily tainted with bias, speculation, and even down-right forgeries (such as the famed Barddas manuscripts). Druidism is far from what most people would expect in todays society. These assumptions are made blindly and without just cause. With just an open mind and a little reading one can find the reason why we choose Druidism today. As Druids we afirm to support and assist all attempts by society to teach and inculcate the principles of friendship and brotherly love. As Druids we oppose all subversion and ill influence in every form towards the laws of God, mankind, and our country. Druidism is a way of life, a system of morality and a brother- and sisterhood which is Social, Moral, and usually Non-Political.



Ovates are also know as vates. The Vates were the young students who were in the first stage of the Druidic priesthood. Vates are given the symbolic color of earth, Green, which signified the period of youth years. The Vates were to focus mainly on their powers of observation to take notice the effects nature had upon life and matter. Thus the Vate became a student of the natural sciences. Vates were also writers of prose and music. We know from Strabo that vates were the interpreters of sacrifices and natural philosophers. Ovates were known to carry out the divinations. We can assume that the Ovates were the ones responsible for the calander of Coligny which is described as a solar/lunar predictor. It would also be safe to assume that they would have been the astrologers as well.


The Bard is the second stage in the Druidic priesthood. Young Ovates develop into Bards. As we know from tales and folk lore, the Bard was a poet, and musician. Due to the Bards venerating way with music and poetry they are given the color of the sky, Blue, which signified Truth, Purity, and Freedom. Bards were also the historians of their time. Passing down from generation to generation the tales, fables, and history of their people. This was very important, because of the lack of written text. Bards were the piece makers and advocated always advising what is just while maintaining balance of self. Strabo describes them as singers and poets which is synonomous with what we have already conclusively derived.


Druids filled the roles of judge,doctor, diviner, mage, mystic, and clerical scholar; in other words, they were the religious intelligentsia of their culture. To become a Druid, students assembled in large groups for instruction and training, for a period of up to twenty years. The mythologies describe Druids who were capable of many magical powers such as divination & prophesy, control of the weather, healing, levitation, and shape changing themselves into the forms of animals. Their education was so rigorous that at the end of it they were virtually walking encyclopedia. A good word for them would seem to be "priest", even though the Romans never used it, and unlike Christian priests, they had a clientele, like a lawyer, a consultant, a mystic, or a shaman would have.


With that in mind, it's not hard to accept that a Druid's connection to nature is the source of all their powers, both in society and in magic. By understanding that connection, a Druid's being is joined with nature, and so they become aware of all that is known to nature, which is all things. A Druid then is a kind of nature mystic.


Druidism is by nature, Educational. The philosophies of Druidism teach us that the light of intelligence will out way and dissolve the darkness of superstition and ignorance which still blinds humanity today. Service to humanity is an improtant factor in the life and character of a Druid. Preserving our nations waterways, forests and wildlife, as well as helping with our polution problems in general.


Druids believe that it is necessary to respect and love Nature as a giver and Sustainer of life. Nature encompasses all things such as the essence of life, the universe and its phenomena, forces, energies, personality, instinctive or intuitive behaviour, and so on. Without the sun's light and heat, neither an animal nor a vegetable could exist for a single moment. The sun is responsible for climate and the growth of a plant, for the flow of the rapids, for the composition of a poem and the generation of a musical note, and for the ravages of famine. Naturalism in theology is the doctrine that all truths may be gleaned from observation of the natural world without recourse to the supernatural for revelation. Divine in her own right, the Earth mother is held in high reguard and revered by all Druids. Nature in general is not worshipped, such as the misconception that Druids worship trees. Trees are very valuable to our ecostructure and have always been thought to be powerful links between us and the Gods as well as to our Rituals. Oak trees being the most commonly used and related to in Druidry. Humans, having the power of speech and reason often feel superior to any other species in animal life. As Druids we acknowledge the concept that we are not only in the world, but part of it. This makes our reguard toward the earth and Nature higher than most. We also do not believe that we are here as fate givers to Gods creatures, nor are we to be placed above them. We are not the pinnacle of creation free to do as we like because God has given us power over the world. We are a foetus in a womb which protects us thus we should not damage Her. Many Druids accept what has come to be known as "the Gaia hypothesis," that the biosphere of our planet is a living being, who is due all the love and respect that we, Her children, can give Her. Ecological awareness is commonly accepted as our sacred duties in order to preserve that in which we reside and are an eternal part of.
The earth has towering mountains, vast and powerful oceans, delightful and delicate flowers, the beauty and suppleness of animals, the sweet and entrancing melody of a song bird, and the athletic grace of human beings. Beyond earth is the sky, with the grandeur of thunder storms, the all encompassing blueness of the daytime sky and the wonder and awe of the starlit night sky, the brilliance of the sun and the serene silver of the moon, but none of these merit our worship.


A simple description of the "Good in Druidism", would be an old Irish Triad which reads: "Three candles that illuminate every darkness: Knowledge, Nature, Truth". The Triad is a convention of Celtic poetry and, because much Druidic wisdom is communicated through such poetry, you would do well to examine and study the poems of the Celts.


The Ancient Druids generally distrusted written records and, although the Ogham did exist, it was generally unused outside of burial monuments, property divisions, and landmarks. To write things down is to weaken the power of edidic memory, which the Druids cultivated carefully, and to dishonor the thing written down. Instead, the Druids relied heavily on their voices. They believed that the voice was the most potent ritual tool. Druids in training had to learn all the Bardic poetry, in a manner we would call sensory deprivation. Poetic inspiration was an important spiritual practice.

The Druids believed in Reincarnation, or Re-birth in an otherworldly afterlife. This spiritual Otherworld is sometimes accessible to us, and particularly close, at certain times of the year (such as Samhain). They believe there is a great sense of connection and continuity between life and death. Death was viewed as a transitional phase in the course of a long, even eternal, life. There is no division between an Underworld and an Upper world. As such, the entities which live in the Otherworld are neither good nor evil, like ourselves.


It has been argued that the druids were exclusively male. While in the classical world of Greece and Rome, male and female mystery schools were separate, there is little reason to believe that the same held for the Celts. While the early Greek and Roman sources do not mention women as druids, some of them do give some suspicious descriptions which suggest that they were seeing such. In our Irish legends, we also see female druids playing prominent roles. The classical world was also much more segregated genderwise than the Celtic world. This contrast has been noted by several scholars, such as Ward Rutherford. In the classical world, women played a largely subservient role, while in the Celtic world they were warriors, poets, farmers, sailors, military leaders, etc. In short, the Celts did not see the gender boundaries as important concerning occupation. Sure, women were not as prevalent in positions of military command as were men, but this is better explained through the socio-economic system of the Celts, and is beyond the scope of this paper. The position of filead (singular of filí) was regarded as feminine. We also have good legendary evidence of women in this position as well, and because the line between filead and druid is often blurry, it seems to add to the pile of evidence in support of feminine druids.


Druid magic is the result of a strong and healthy awareness of nature, and the spirits and gods who live in nature. A Druid must understand the language that Nature uses to speak its wisdom. All else follows from that. Druid magic has a votive quality; magic is performed by appealing to the gods to perform a service in return for an offering. Mythic Druids often used trance-ecstasy to achieve their purpose as well. But in the myths very little attention is paid to summoning or controlling spirits and gods, instead, the Druids sought communication and communion.


Keep in mind, though, that the best way to experience Druidism is to turn off your computer, put the book down, and go out into Nature. Find yourself a stream, or a nice wooded area. Look for a grove to call your own. Do something...ANYTHING... Just keep your eyes and ears open, because the spirits and magic are out there to be found as long as you're receptive to their messages.