Modern Druidry

Modern Druidry.

I must state, first and foremost, that modern druidry is reconstructionist. I know that ruffles some feathers, but there really is no way around that. There is no definitive answer as to who the druids *were*, where they came from, where they went, and what they did. Modern druidry is neopagan and is our best effort to reconstruct *Celtic* traditions from second hand (biased) accounts and Christian (BIASED) transriptions. So ....now that's out of the way.

Modern druidry is nondogmatic. It is a philosophy first. Druids are scholars, life long learners. Ever been furious because it really hit you one day that you would never be able to learn *everything* before you passed on? Happened to me. :-P Druids strive to be exceptional in all facets of life. i.e. spiritually and intellectually. The idea is to be excellent, elite, in all things but yet retain a humble reverence for all people and all things. Druids must remember that in order to continue growing and learning, they cannot limit themselves to the obvious sources of knowledge. Every person and every experience has something to teach us, even if it's just what not to do! :-P This however is a lot easier said than done. Most druids I known, myself included, have little patience with the willfully ignorant and miss the lesson with these people. :P

Druids believe in the sacredness of nature. Druidry however is not a religion, so druids may view deity in any way they choose. Personally, I am a pantheist. I honor the Tuatha de Danann pantheon because it is the way in which I most easily connect to the divine energy of nature. But again, no matter the way in which the druid views deity, all druids hold nature sacred. All nature is divine and all nature is connected. Human life is not more important than animal or plant life and gods are not more important than humans. It's all interconnected. This interconnectivity with the universe is essential to druid philosophy. Druids also believe in the otherworld and reincarnation, though each druid may have a different concept of what that really means.

Most commonly there are three paths to modern druidry. The idea is to master each. Then most will settle into one path or the other. These paths are sometimes known as bard, ovate, and druid. They are not degrees in that one isn't *better* or *higher* than another. Most commonly your bards are your artistist, musicians, entertainers, and historians. Ovate is the nature path with medicinal herbs, working with stones, and divination. The *druid druid* path, as I call it, includes diplomacy, judicial work, intellectual work, teaching and spiritual leadership.

Druids are not duality centered like many neopagan paths. Instead, druids are more concerned with ternaries. This is based a great deal on the amount of them found on celtic artifacts. i.e. triskele Also, as I mentioned before, druids have three elements (Sky, Earth, and Sea) not the now traditional five. Modern druids believe that binaries lead to extremeties and limit our experience and growth. The middle stave, the third, that's where the two meet, and that is where growth takes place. The idea behind ternaries is illustrated nicely with Awen. Yes, Awen is controversial because it was created by Iolo *Taught Joseph Smith Everything he knows* Morganwg. But the philosophy behind it is sound.

Magic is not a necessary component of druidry. Magic is a skill, like playing the flute or sword fighting. Some druids practice magic, others do not. I do, though not nearly as often as some. Regardless, practicing magic does not make you a druid.

All of the above is colored by our best interpretation of the *Celtic* psyche through the little remaining records we have of them. My druidry is *mostly* colored by the Tuatha de Danann mythologies, with *some* Welsh thrown in there. But primarily Tuatha de.

Again, druidry is reconstructionist and nondogmatic, so you will find a great deal of variance between one druid's practices and another's. But the main tenents usually stay intact. Druidry is a life long learning process, excellence in all endeavors is cherished, nature is interconnected and all is sacred, and you will find *Celtic* influences in ideologies and philosophies. Becoming druid really is a life-long goal.