What Do Druids Believe? (What Do We Believe?)

Philip Carr-Gomm lives in Sussex, with his wife Stepha nie and their children . A psycho lhera pist and the founder of the Lewes Mo ntessori school, he began the srudy and practice of D ruidism over thirty years ago, and for the last fifleen years has written, lectured, and held wo rksho ps and retreats on th is spirilllal lraditi on all over the wo rld. H e is autho r of Druid Mysteries, The Druid ~y, and Druidcrafi, co-aulho r of 7,Je Druid Animal Oracle and 71Je DruidCrafi Tarot, and edito r of 7,Je lJook of Dmidry, 71Je Rebirth of Druidry. and In the Grove ofthe Druids. For more info rmation sec www.philipcarrgolllm.d ruid ry.org.

SERIES ED ITOR: TONY MORRIS Available now

What Do BuddhistsBeliwe? To ny Mo rris What Do Christians Belieue? Malcolm G uire What Do Muslims Believe? Z iaudd in Sarda r

·What Do DRUIDS Believe?

Published in Autumn 2006

What DoAstrologers Believe? Nicholas Camp ion What Do Greens Believe? Joseph Smi th What Do Existentialists Believe? Richard App ignanesi What Dojews Believe? Edward Kessler

Philip Carr-Gomm

Forthcoming

What Do Hindus Believe? Rachel Dwy er What Do Pagans Believe? Gra ham H arvey What Do Zionists Believe? C olin Shindler

Granta Books L ondo n

Granra Publications, 2/3 Han over Yard, Nod Road , Londo n N 1 SBE First pu blished in G reat Britain by C ranm Books 2006 Co pyright © 2006, Philip Carr-C om m 'M ind Games' writ ten by Jo hn Lennon © 1973 Ll'llO /l O Music, used with perm ission Philip C.1rr-G ornm has asserted his mo ral right und er rhe Copyright, Designs and Parent s Ace, 1988, to be identified as the aut ho r of this work .

All rights reserved . No reprodu ction, copy or transmi ssions of this public ation may be made wit hout writ ten permission. No paragrap h of th is publication may be reprod uced , copied or trnnsmitrcd Solve with writt en permi ssion or in accorda nce with the provisions of th e Copy right Act 1956 (as am end ed). Any person wh o do es any un authoriu·J act in relat ion [ 0 [his public arion may be liable to crim inal p ro secu tion and civil claims for damages. A C lp catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN- IO: 1-86207-864 -5 ISBN - 13: 978- 1-862 07-864 -2 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 (, " 2

" Yl'n r l hy M Rule,\ "rillln i ;Ilul hc ltlllli ill C'IC;lI Britain by ll"lI~ Ill ,II ' l l h" l.nl, Croydon, Surrey

Th is book is dedi cated to the Mount Haemus Scholars that growing band ofdedicated souls who are determined to research, articulate and understand D ruidry:

Contents

Acknowledgements

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

D ruids in the Twenry-First Century - Who Follows D ruidism Today? How Did We Get He re? T he O rigins of Mo dern Dru idism T he Root s of a Tradition Significant D ruids - Key Figures from the Past Wh at Do Dr uids Believe? Mysticism, Shamanism and Magic Eth ics and Values W hat Do Dr uids Do? Stor ies and Lore Learning D ruidry T he Practical Value of Following Dru idism Dr uidry in the Puru re

Notes Glossary Further reading Resources and Contacts Index

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9 16 25 35 49 57 66 78 83 89 94 102 105 108 I II

113

Acknowledgements

A m axim in creat ivity tr ain ing is that you shou ld ask ve ry sim ple, appa ren tly obv ious qu esti ons to generate new insights and to deepen your un d erstand ing of a subject. I am very grateful to th e series editor, Ton y M orri s, fo r inviting me to write th is book, and for askin g me to st ruc tu re it aro und a series o f very d irect, sim ple qu estions. T his help ed me to think abou t a famil iar subjec t wit h wh at is kn own in Z en Buddhism as ' Begin ner's M ind ', wh ich made the experience ofwritin g th is book refreshin g and illuminatin g. I would also like to thank Pamel a M eekingsStewa rt for provid ing the pe rfect retreat env ironment in New Zealand for working on th e book, Ronald Hulton , John M ichael Greer. Barbara Erskine. Sarah Fuh ro and the many friends and members of the O rde r of Bards, O vares and Druids who helped with their co m ments, encouragement and suggestio ns.

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1 Druids in the Twent y- First Centu ry Who Follows Drui dism Today?

What is Druidry?A Spiritual Path, a way of life, a philosophy, Druidry is all of these .. . Druidry today is alive and well, and has migrated around the world forming a wonderful web of

people who honour and respect the Earth .. . Cairistiona Won hington, Druids - A Beginner's Guide A road protester who has cha ined hi mself to a tree to prevent ir being to rn down to bu ild a mo torway and the late Q ueen Mother en tert ain ing guests at Cla rence Hou se m ight seem to have no thi ng in co m mo n. Rut an unusual thread con nects them _ as it connects characters as diverse as W inston C hurchill and an expert forger, or the Arch bishop of Canterbury and an advocate of free love and po litical revo lut ion who ensu red th at cremat ion was legalized in Britain. T his thread is D ruid ism. Today probably abo ut a q uart er of a millio n peop le aro und the wo rld are insp ired by D ru id ideas, but st ill the sto ry of D ru idism and of how it has evolved is little kn own outs ide its own community. Wh at exactly is a D ruid? H ow do you become o ne, and what

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3

DRUI DS IN TH E T W EN T Y· FIR ST CENT URY

DR UID S I N TH E TW ENTY· FIR ST CE NT URY

docs a practising Dru id do ? Is Druidism a religion , a cult, a NewAge fad? Is it based on fact or fantasy? Are those who follow Druidi sm as a spiritual way espousing a kind of pseudo -religion based on romant ic noti on s of ou r past, or arc they are actually on to something: practising a type of spirituality that is rooted in ancient heritage yet particularly suited to rod ay's world? Althou gh I practise D ruid ry, I have tried to brin g to thi s exploration as much objectivity and scepticism as I can muster. T his has been possible, perh aps, because I dislike orga nized religion and rigid belief systems. The right to change one's opinions feels paramo unt , yet often religion s seem to deny thi s, and as a result are sometimes capable of generating extraord inary int olerance, even cruelty. Alth ou gh many of us fed a spiritual hunger, the challenge is surely to find a way to satisfy th is hunger that frees us rath er th an traps us in do gma. D ruidism, or Druidry as it is often called, is remarkably free of dogma and is in many ways a very young movement , even though it bases itself on very old found ation s. Some believe the term 'Druid' comes from the Celtic word for oak - dru - combined with the Indo-European root wid - to know - making the D ruid a 'knower of the oak', in other words a 'forest sage'. O thers believe the word comes from the pre-Ind o-European roots deru; meanin g 'strong', and ueid; meanin g 'to sc..c', making a D ruid a 'strong seer'. outcmpo rary D ruid ry d raws on a heritage of thousands of years, alld yel Illany of its ideas and practices have only been for III'" I over I he last few hundred years. Unlike 1110st of the ,·sl.,hli,I,,·d Il'ligioll." which arc based on doctrin e formu lated in Ii", d i" ,'111 I',''' , Ilrui d ry is develop ing its philosophy and pracl i \ (· \ i l l 1C\I Il I I I \ l' II) the spirit of the times. It is being shaped now 1,11 111'1 111,11 1 hl'illg preserved or simply passed on, and parad" . i, ,oily, ,dlilCl uf', h il i, inspired and informed by an ancient 1"'11' ''''''', " " '"I1" i, illl',1 y free of the weight of th e past. T his

leaves modern Druidry o pen to the criticism that it has been invented; but it also makes it a thoroughly contempo rary spiritual ity th at speaks directly to the needs of tod ay.

2

Who Follows Druidism Tod ay? Twice a year, at the time of the solstices, the largest Druid group, the Order of Bards, O vares and D ruids, holds a big gathering in G lastonbury Ceremonies are held on the Tor and at Stoneh enge. There arc talks and presentations, people cat, dan ce, sing and play music rogether.The rwo hundred or so participant s include old and youn g people, men, wom en and child ren, some flamboyantly dr essed, some in conventional cloth es. You'd expect to see some beh ind a desk at an office, oth ers at a pop festival. They come mainly from Britain and Ireland , but there arc also people from Amer ica, Australia and all over Europe. Druidism as a spiritual path app eals to all kinds of peopl e, all over the world , becau se it d irectl y co ncern s itself with th e three most pr essing problems o f o ur age: th e destruction of the environment, th e alienation of the indi vidu al, and the commercialization and mass production of culture. If you ask peop le why they are attra cted to Druidism they will almost invariably offer as a first answer th e fact th at they love the natural world, and that th ey depl ore the way in which they sec it being exploited and damaged. T hey arc looking for a spiritua lity th at honours and works within Na ture, rather th an separately from it. They feel that modern living has separated us from the natural world and along with thi s sense of bein g separated from Mother Eart h comes another sense of alienation: a feeling th at we lead increasingly separate lives as political and economic pressures turn us from being citizens living in a com munity to being indi vidu al consumers.

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DRUIDS IN TH E TWE NTY ·F IRS T CENT URY

As we lose touch with o u r se nse o f living within a co mmunity. and within the n atural world. we arc becoming increasingly isolated from our sou rces o f sp iritual suste na nce. We may benefit mat eriall y from technology a nd globalizatio n. but we will most likely exist in relationship to a series of boxes: w akin g up in a box . leaving it in a metal on e to enter ano ther made of glass and co ncrete. in whi ch we will often sta re into the lirrle box of our co mp ute r before returning hom e in o ur metal box to relax in front o f a television. Peopl e draw n to Druidry want to break out of these boxes to feel th e land close to th em a nd 10 feci part of a com m un ity o f people with sim ilar valu es and ideals. They arc trying to undo th e aliena tio n o f modern life by seeking th eir o rigins. both ances tral and sp iritual. by explor ing th e past o f th eir fam ilies and th eir cu lture, and by drawing o n th e insp iratio n o f a tradi tion wh ose root s travel deep . Every spiritual tradition was born witlrin a parti cu lar culture. For Druidry thi s was Western Euro pe: m ainl and Britain . if we are to bel ieve Caesar. Bur th en . like seeds cast to th e wind. tra• diri o ns travel to di stant lands to inspire peopl e from o ther cu ltu res, Th is has happen ed with Druidry, as it has with m ost religions and spiritual path s. so th e facr th at yo u call yourself C h ristian or Buddhist. for example. bears no rela tionsh ip 10 your eth n ic. geog rap h ical o r cu ltu ral background. Sim ilarly man y peopl e following Druidry have no C eltic ancestry. wh ile o the rs who d o. o fte n find in their D ru id ry a way of sensing a clo ser co nnec tion with their heritage.

The Appeal of Myth and St ory

As well as bein g d rawn to D ru id ry by a love of nature. or by want ing to get in to uch with wh at th ey sense as their ancestr al

DRUID S IN TH E T W EN T Y- FIR ST CE NTURY

5

spirituality. many people are attracted to it because of their love o f myth and sto rytelling. Ju st as modern soc iety has separa ted us from the natural world. so it has also te nded to separate us from m eaningful a rt a nd sto ry, Alon g with th e movement tow ards individualistic co nsumerism has co me th e production of cu lture for th e mass mark er. So me writers have seen in thi s pro cess the attempt to create a 'M cWor ld ' in wh ich everyt hing is seen through a H ollywood lens. whi ch bleeds it of substa nce and me aning. Thankfully not everyo ne wants to live in M cWorld . and th ere is a real thirst fo r art. films. stories and books whi ch co nvey richer meanings and whi ch arc profound rather than superficial. Druidry responds to this thi rst by working with the power of sto ries a nd arche ty pa l sy mbo ls. It exp lores o ld m yths and legends. whi ch may have o rigina ted in th e teaching tales o f the a nci ent D ruids - to ld by th e Bard s of o ld. and transcribed in later times by C h ristian clerics. T hese tales reson ate for man y peop le. evo king ideas. images and feelin gs whi ch help th em feel closer to th e realities o flife. So me peopl e relate 10 D ru id ry sim ply as an interest. whi ch th ey pursue like a hobby. T hey love th e old tales. th ey like to visit ancient sites and to study history. O thers might be.mem ber s of Wel sh . Co rn ish or Breton gro u ps who a tte nd ceremo nies at the cultu ral events kn own as Eisteddjoda», wh ich promote rhe arts. and enjoy th e soc ial. histori cal and cu ltura l aspects o f th eir activity. O thers may be members of D ru id fratern al o r so roral orga nizatio ns that arc rather like M asonic

gro u ps. O r they may sim ply be investors in D ruid Friend ly Societies. wh ich have evo lved o ut of these o rgan i,"'tions 10 offer insurance sc hemes and health -care plans. In add itio n th ere arc those who follow D ruidry as a specifically spiritual way. ThL}' might call rhemsclvcs D ruids more or less from

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DR U ID S IN TH E T WE NT Y-F IR ST CE NT URY

the start , or they might on ly do this wh en they have reached a specific level of rraining. Accu rate figures for t he number of peop le interested in Dr uidism in its various manifestations do not exist, but there is enough info rmation ro make an estimate. T ho usands arrend the televised events in which th e D ruids of Wales appear each year at rhe Welsh National Eisteddfod, and hundreds attend sim ilar events held in Corn wall and Britta ny, while frate rna l D ru id ism attracts about 11,000 people worl dwide. ' In 1996 a leading acade m ic estimated that th ere we re rou ghl y 6,000 peop le pract ising D ruidry as a spiritual way in Britain, 2 and a major study in 200 1 in the USA estimated the figu re th ere ar

33,000.3 If we include rhe ot her count ries of the world, th is figure of 39 ,000 in Britain and th e USA could be increased to a total of perha ps 45-5 0,000 peop le worldwid e. Around such a gro up of peop le, who could be called" Pracrising D ruids', there is a much wider circle of those who are interested in rhe ideas of Druidry, and who incorporare some of these into their ow n person al brand of spiritual practice. O nly a min ority of th e peop le who arc inspired by D ruid ry actually join a D ru id ord er or group. T he major ity, for reasons of tim e or inclination, arc mor e likely to sim ply read books on th e subject, informally celebrate the old festival tim es, and feel inspired by D ruid lore. Abou t 100,000 peop le in Britain4 and around 426 ,000 peop le in th e USA5 regard themselves as Pagan. While not all th ese peop le will conside r th emselves inspired by Druid ism , a good man y will, and it is quite likely that the wider circle of influence beyond the ded icated followers of D ruidism co uld well exceed a quarter of a million people worldwide. Many of those d rawn to D ruidry co nsider themselves Pagan. T hey ofte n actively d islike co nvent ional religion, usually

DR U ID S IN T HE TW ENT Y- FI RST CE NT URY

7

C hristianity, because of its doctr ines or its historical record of into lerance and cruelty, and prefer instead the lack of dogm a and the focus on th e world of nature that Paganism offers. But there are others wh o find that studying D ruidism helps th em deepen their faith in ano ther religion . T he novelist Barb ara Erskine writes of her experience: When I was a child I set up an altar in woodland at the bott om

or the garden. On it I put a little gold cross wedged into a lump o f plasticine. Now, many years later, I realise this was a

first express ion o f leanings towards what I now recognise as

druidic Christianity, or Christian Druidism. I came from a Church of England family Jll(i went ro a school which worshipped daily in the chapel. Faith foundered however when I studied history at university. I encountered for the first time Christianity's downside: it had been roo much mediated by politics, cruelty, misogyny and fundamentalism, c.ui ug little forJesus's teachings of tolerance and love; it seemed III enco urage exploitation of the natural world and it used the heavy hand of guilt rather than love ro corral its followers. Like lI};llly o thers I questioned and fell away. When I discovered D ruidry it was a homecom ing into a

philosophy which encompassed all that I held dear and it hiough t me into the Western spiritual tradition , something which had been part of my soul without my realising it. My world was animistic. I had always prayed ro the O ne God and ,I ll dl l' gods, feeling that that expressed my true beliefs even I hotll!,h I was not comfortable with wholesale paganism. T he 1,1.'1 1 thing I expected was fo r my studies and meditations to 1I111111 illC and rekindle my struggling C hristian faith. Or that du-y would reconcile my certainties about a supernatural world III u.u urc spirits, ghosts and energies which seemed to be

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DRUIDS IN T HE TWE NTY -F I RST CEN TURY

unchristian, into a church which included angelsand archangels

and all the company of heaven.6 D ruidism tou ches hearts and souls in different ways and it appea ls to many peop le now because of its lack of exclusivity and uniformity. T here are disagreements within rhe world of D ruidry, as within any co mmun ity, and there is no one universally accep ted understand ing of D ru id ism. but this has enco uraged a diversity with in the landscape of mod ern D ruidry that is ferti le and even exotic. How did it get to be this way? W here and whe n did Druidry begin?

2 How Did We Get Here? The Origins of Modern Druidism

Any study of the druids must begin with a process of demysrification . . .

Jean Marble. The Druids- Celtic Priests ofNature Druidism is roored in th e cultu re and mythology of Wesrern Europe - in particular in those cultures which have come to be know n as C eltic. which stre tch fro m Ireland and parts of Port ugal in the west to France. Switzerland and Austr ia in the cast. We first hear of it in the writings of Ju lius Caesar. who in abo ut 50 BeE wro te that D ru idism originated in Britain'? But some say th at it originated elsewhere and much earlier, in Egypt or Indi a," wh ile mystics such as D ia n Fort une and Rudo lf Steiner point, with clairvoyant rath er than historical evidence, to the even more mysteriou s land of Atlantis. Wh ethet D ruidry's roots are ind eed so exotic, or whether the histo rical understa nd ing that D ru id ism evolved in th e British Isles abour 2.5 00 years ago is co rrect, the current revival of interest in D ruidism depends not so much upon th e ancient past as upon very recen t histor y.

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HOW D ID WE GET H ER E?

H OW DIO WE GET HE RE?

Mod ern D ruidi sm , as ir is pr actised by most Druids roday, eme rged our of two acts of rebellio n that occurred virtually sim ultaneo usly o n both sides of th e Atlanri c during th at fertil e and rumultuous period of rhe 1960s. In 1963 o n the Carleto n Co llege ca mp us in th e USA a g ro up called rhe Reformed D ru ids of No rt h Am erica was created as a humorou s protest against mandato ry Sunday morning chapel attenda nce , whil e rhe following year in England a histor ian , Ross N ichols, rebelled against the e1ecrion of a new D ru id C hief, and established his own group, rhe O rder of Bards, O vares and Druids. Alth ough both th e RONA and rhe O BOD were initially sma ll gro ups, th ey exerted an influ ence over the co ming years whi ch resul ted in Druid ism finally eme rging in the last decade of the twenti eth cent ury as a viable alterna tive ro the more wellkno wn and established spiritual pa ths. Prior to the mid -I 96 0s almost all D ru id act ivity over the previou s few hund red years had been co nfined to th e cultural efforrs of th e Welsh D ruids and the fraterna l act ivities of the English Druids? - neither of whi ch treated D ru idry as a spiritua l path in its own right. An exceptio n co uld be found, however, in on e type of D ru id ism that did focus on spiritua l pr actice - even th ou gh ir attracted only a han dfu l of followers. At the dawn of the rwcnrierh cent ury a dynami c and vocal ind ivid ual, Geo rge Watson M acGregor Reid, began promoting D ru id ism as a spiritual path th ar co uld unite followers of many faiths; the group that he led, the Univ ersal Bond, becam e a vehicle for conveying many of the ideas that had been expressed by groups such as th e T heoso phical Sociery and the Orde r of th e Golde n Dawn in th e pr eviou s cenr ury. T hro ugh th e Universal Bond a co mplex tap est ry began to be woven, whi ch dr ew on rhe inspiration of th e anc ient D ruids, the wo rk of the Revival Druids of the previous rhree cenr uries, the reach ings of

I he

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wo rld religions, and the Western Myste ry Trad ition. The group held ceremonies at Sto nehenge, cam paigned for social just ice, and pr omoted the Universalist C h urch, which later becam e in corporated int o th e Unitar ian C h urch. In the 1940s and '50s the Universal Bond, which had grad uoily evo lved into bein g called the Anc ienr D ru id O rde r, attracted ro it two figure s who wou ld act as catalysts for the explosion of interest in Paganism that is occurring today: Gera ld Card ner and Ross Nic ho ls. Ga rdner becam e the sem inal figur e ill the promorion of the religion ofWicca, or Pagan witch craft, while N icho ls developed D ru id ism by focusing its conce rns on C eltic and Brit ish lor e and m ythology.l '' N icho ls and many W iccans were inspired by a boo k whic h has i~flu en ced mu ch of the modern Pagan movem ent - Robert Graves' The White Goddess, wh ich claim ed ro have discovered a D ru id ic calendar based o n rh e trees and plan ts associated with 'Ogham', an .ilphaber of twen ty-five strokes centred o r branching off a single line tha t can be found inscrib ed o n sto nes in Ireland dated ro I he fifth and sixt h cenr ur ies. Bot h Ni ch ols and Ga rd ner ca me 10 ado pt an eighrfold cycle of ob servan ces whi ch now lies at the hear t of both D ru id and Wi ccan practices. In this cycle the o bservance of t he solst ices and eq uinoxes is co mbined with I he celebration of the four tradition al cross-qua rter days aro und I he first of February, May, August and Novem ber (sec C ha pter H f(lt mo re details). Gard ner di ed in 196 4 and so did the chief of the Ancient I )mid O rder - M acGregor Reid's so n, Rob ert . A new chief was elected, but Nichols decided he wanted ro wo rk with D ruidism ill a differen t way, and formed his own order, which has since I\IOw n to become the largest D ru id gro up in th e world . While hi, gro u p was formed o ut of a serio us de sire ro deep en D ruidi sm as a sp iritual prac tice, the Reformed D ru ids of North

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H OW 01 0 WE GET H ER E?

H OW DID WE GET H E RE?

America were founded a year earlier partly as a prank to avoid church services, and partl y as a protest against compulsory attendance. Th e initiative proved creative: since students who claimed they were Dru ids were obliged to hold alternative rites, they found them selves becoming seriously interested in new ways of worship - and Dru idism. The writings and activities of the RONA inspired the creation of the largest Druid group in America today, the ADF (A Druid Fellowship), out of which other groups have emerged to develop and enrich conte mporary Druidism.

and mysterious heritage, and although A View overAtlantis was not directly about Druidism, Michell succeeded in educating the counter-culture in the power of this spiritual heritage that , just like the similar traditi on of H induism at the other end of the Indo-European arc, seemed to speak directly to their spiritual needs. Despite the popularity of Michell's book and a growing interest in the pre-Christian heritage of Britain and Ireland, with its sacred sites, and the mysterious lines of energy that were said to connect them , the practice of Druidry as a spiritual way was still confined to a handfu l of peop le: those members of the Ancient Druid O rder founded by MacG regor Reid, and tho se of the O rder of Bards, O vates and Druids founded by Ross Nichols. It wasn't until the I98 0s that this handfu l began to grow into the thousands of Druids who exist today. As the popularity of alternative approaches to healing and spirituality, loosely termed ' New Age', grew during the decade or so after the appearance of A View over Atlantis, there developed a thirst for Celtic spirituality, stimulated to a great extent hy two prolific writers: Ca itlin and John Matthews. From the mid-eighti es they began to mine, articulate and popu larize the treasure trove of spiritual wisdom found in the old Welsh and Irish manu scripts, which, unti l then, had only been studied by academics. Druidism was often the subject of their researches, and th eir work pro vided mu ch of the source material for num erous writers on Celtic mytho logy, the G rail, D ruid ry and Paganism, and succeeded in fuelling a widespread interest in Celtic spirituality in Brirain and the United States. By the eight ies the time was ripe for a growth in the popu l.iriry of Druidism. T he New Age was in full swing, thc Church, ,l ll d mon otheist ic religion s in genera l, were seen by many peop le as increasingly part of the problem rath er than part of

By 1969 D ruids were starting to feature in the burgeoning counter-cu lture. John Lennon consciously or intuitivel y knew that Peace and Love, the corne rstones of co unter-cultural idealism, were deeply connected with Druidi sm, and so he sang about th is in his 'Mi nd Games': We're playing those mind games togethe r,

Pushing the barriers. planting seeds. Playing the mind guerrilla, Chanting the Mantra, 'Peace o n Earth'.

We all been playing those mind games forever Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil. Doing the mind guerrilla. Sume call it magic, the search for the grail, In the same year that this song was released, a book about Stonehenge and the 'Icy lines' which seemed to connect ancient sites across the British landscape appeared, which rapidl y became a cult classic. A View over Atlantis by John Michell appealed to the baby-boom generatio n who were living throu gh the era of 'Flower Power' and had becom e att racted to Eastern religions. M ichell's book introduced the m to their own exotic

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HOW DI D W E GET H ERE?

HOW DI D WE GET H ERE?

the solutio n to th e world's ills, and in add ition there was now an in tense awareness of th e enviro n mental disaster th at threatened th e plan et. Even th ough Druidry had no pra ctitioners who had inh erit ed th eir tr aditions in an unbroken line from their a ncesto rs. and even th ough it was no longer tau ght o r practi sed in a tribal co nt ext, it still represented to m an y th e indi gen ou s preC h ristia n sp iritual an d m agical heritage of th e f.1r west o f Eu rope - a territory tha t included Brittan y. Ireland and th e British Isles. O nce more . sim ulta neo usly o n both sides of th e Atlantic. D ruid ry too k a leap forward in its development. In 1984 Isaac Bon ewits founded th e D ruid gro up, AD F and I was asked to develop a co urse of reaching in D ru id ry. Bon ewirs, th e first Am erican student to co mplete a univ ersity degree in Ma gic. five times marri ed and an enthusiasti c advoc it e o f po lyarnory, had been a member of th e R ONA a nd co mb ined th ei r id eas with hi. ow n researches to o ffer a D ru idi sm that was di stin ctl y religious - with a polytheisti c th eology and a n em phasis o n th e importance o f scho larsh ip and th e d evelopmen t ofl itu rgy. I had kno w n and stu d ied with Ross N icho ls, had trained in psychology and psych otherapy, and in 1988 was asked to lead th e O rder he had founded twenty-four yea rs previ ously. The O rd er published th e co urse that I had created with th e help o f a number o f writers. including Ross Ni ch ols and John and C aitlfn Matthews. Rath er th an presen tin g D ru id ry as a religio n, th e co urse o ffered a journey of sp iritual and psychological exploratio n inspired by Druidry, and based up on th e ph ilosoph y and th e idea s that had become associat ed with it. The co urse seemed to answer a need, and by the close of the millennium four th ousand peopl e aro u nd th e world were working with it. In th e USA tho usands had also become attracted to

D ruid ism through th e work of th e RO NA, AD F and o ther ~ ro u ps. and in do ing thi s had begun to practise D ru id ism as a spiritu al way. Soo n after th e twentieth century had opened, a handful o f peopl e had begun d oing thi s. Now. as the cent u ry closed , th ou sands were. Helped by two impulses of ren ewal .1IId cha nge. in th e 1960s a nd th e 19 80s. D ru id ism was now more popular than it ever had been. But it was not th e thoro llgh ly modem creatio n it ap peared to be at first sigh t. Its reb irth in recent tim es was entirely d ependent upon th e past .llId it devel oped out o f a period o f mor e than two ce ntu ries of whol arshi p and speculatio n.

14

THE ROOTS OF A T RAO ITION

3 The Roots of a Tradition

As we settle into this new century it is of viral impo rtance (hat we reconnect with o ur D ruidic roots.

Tom Cowan.

III

0/ 'A ncimt Shapes and Memories

In the late seventeen th ce nt u ry- a co m plex o f influen ces co nverged to tr igger an inten se interest in the Druids that heralded a period ofte n called the ' D ru id Revival' . th e most impo rt an t part of w hich occu rred duri ng the late eigh tee nt h an d early nineteenth ce nt ur ies, T he modern D ru id movem en t. wh ich start ed in th e ea rly twentiet h cent ur y and ga ine d momentum in th e I 960s. has grow n o ut o f th is Revival per iod in both senses of the term , havin g de veloped o ut o f it, a nd in react ion to it. T he D ru id Revival began as the influen ce o f t he En ligh ten me nt enco ur aged enq u iry and d im in ished the nccessiry to co n fo rm with C h urc h d octrines, As the classical texts describi ng anc ient D ru ids becam e more read ily ava ilable in tran slation thro ugh the develo p men t of printing. scho lars in Britain. France and Ge rma ny beca me fascinated with the G reek and Ro ma n accounts of the ir pre-Ch rist ian anc esto rs.

17

Two o f th e most sign ificant of these acco unt s. written by lul ius C aesar an d D iodorus Sicu lus, paint ed a picture of the I)euids as scholars and religio us lead ers wh o fun cti oned in a similar way to the pri estly caste o f the Hindu Brahmins: offici,' Iing at sac rifices. teachi ng philosophy a nd star lor e. and conveying an o ral tradi tion that required students to learn many verses by heart. D rui ds were exem p t from military service and rhc taxes raised to pay for it. T hey ad vised ch iefta ins and had a rcputario n for pacifyin g arm ies about to fight . T hey described a da rker side of D ruid ism. too . in whi ch I)ruids were presen t at the sacrifice of criminals, or so metimes lu noccnt people, wh o were burnt alive in wicker cages, or killed in the atte mp t to divine th e future from th eir death throes, We v.um o t be sur e th at any of th e classical autho rs were reco unting Ihe truth . but th e descr ip tion th ey have left us of wise sages ,.llm ing warring t ribes a nd teach ing in forest groves has tended 10 end ure over the image o f their presidin g over human sacriIk (:. Likew ise. medi eval Irish literature co ntains references to I huids as th e w isest a nd most learn ed people of th eir time, who acted as adviso rs to local po litical lead ers, and as wiza rds ~II H l l1l agi c i a ns .

1nspi red by rhesc posit ive im ages o f th e a ncient D ruids. " hola rs in the seve nteenth and eightee nth centuries saw them ,1\ 'noble savages' - an elite who were th e guard ians ofan indigc1101 " religion w h ich was th e pr ecu rsor o f C h rist ian ity. T his 1"" lT!,tio n was reinfor ced wirh reports of th e noble savages livilll; in Ame rica. who reminded Eu ro peans of the ir Paga n lult'hears. I, wasn't long before th e ancien t gua rd ians of the indi gen ou s 1l·ligioll became associated with the many mysterious m OIHt· IlIr ,n , wh ich sca tte red th e land. In th e I 66 0s th e versati le . , ho lar. John Aubrey, sugg ested th at th e megalithic rem ain s of

18

TH E ROOTS OF A T RADIT ION

TH E ROOTS OF A T RAOITION

Britain had been built by the Druids, and intrigued by this, a man who was to becom e one the fo undi ng fathers of th e mod ern science of archaeo logy, William Srukelcy, visited Sto nehenge in 1719. For the next five years he made annual visits to Wiltshire - carrying out a detailed study of bo th Sto nehenge and Avebury. In his book Stonehenge, a Temple Restored to the British Druids, he popul arized the noti on that the D ruids had buil t the most famous of sto ne circles, and that they were also responsible for the other megalithi c monuments so well distribured th roughour Britain . T he haunting presence of Stonehenge, and the classical texts describing th e D ru ids, were inspiring, bu t the texts also reported disappointingly t hat t he Druids co nveyed an or al teaching, leavin g eighteenth-century scho lars impotent to explore in any detail their phil osophy and practi ces. They combed both the classical sources and medieval Welsh and Irish literature for clear and extended sta tements of what the Druids had believed and taught , and found non e. Into thi s vacuum stepped an extraord inary character: Edward Williams, who lived from 1747 to 1826 and took on the name of lolo Morganwg. A stonemason and acco mplished poet who played a significant role in promoting Unitarianism in Wales, 1010 set about construct ing a body of lore that he th en passed ofT as authent ic ancient Druidism. His exten sive knowl edge of Welsh literar y tradition s, his theolo gical explorations, and perhaps his use of laud anum, help ed him to create a system that succeeded in providing mu ch of the inspiration for the writing on D ruid ism into the modern era. Woven into 1010'Swor k arc strands of inspiration drawn from his knowledge of Welsh folklore and literature, and his visits to man y of the old houses and libraries of Wales. It took nearly a hundred years for academics to prove that he had fabricated his

19

"""I" ial, and even

though no expert in Welsh literature now " I" lirvcs that 1010 drew on any pre-existin g tradition, an increasIIlt~ number arc co m ing to respect and celeb rate him as an ,,"~,i ll.,1 genius. H e is now seen both as a literary fraudster and as I " " i.rl reformer with a positive legacy that continues to this day. I he Eisteddfod movement on ly experienced a revival and I\" 'W become a major feature of Welsh cultu re on ce it had , oI o l' ll'l1 1010'S Druidic institution, whi ch he called 'T he I ,',' ,cdd'. He introduced the idea of the Go rsedd in 1792 , when I" Icd an Eisteddfod on London's Primrose H ill, and it was "I"I'Il'l1hy the Welsh Eisteddfod in 1819. The Eisteddfod , as a

'0

I

llllll ral phenom enon, has ge nuine roo ts in the ancient past of

01 u: I 'chs and D ruids, whereas the Go rsedd is 1010'S' invent ion. Its I" ,"orary members include the Archbishop of Ca nterbury and I he l.uc Q ueen Mother. Every schoo l in Wales now hold s an I" " ," al Eisteddfod, and the nation al event acts as a focus and "," l hlS to a bro ad ran ge of cultural and literary initi atives. II,,, c rhc Eistedd fod movement had adop ted th e ritu al and 'mti llllion of the Gorsedd, its influence extended to Brittany 1101 ( 'or nwall. In a tim e when their languages and cultu re had \,... nmc margin alized, 1010 Morganwg's Druidism resto red a I,dd,' in th eir herit age 10 the Bretons, Cornish and Welsh. [uvr over a decade before 1010's introduction of th e G orsedd III 17')2, a Druid organization had already been created , but it W ;I\ " distin ctly different phenomenon : its purposes were social 11111 fratern al rather th an cultu ral. The Ancient O rder of I '," i,k founded by a man nam ed Hurle in 1781 in a pub in 11IlIdon's Poland Street , was formed 10 provid e mutual suppo rt Ill ' rucmbcrs - modelling itself along th e lines of Freemaso nry. " olll'red social gath erin gs, and a rype of ceremo nial similar to . tI"",. of fraterna l societies, where a Bible was placed on th e I" n-tn at each meetin g, and discussion of religion prohibited.

r

II I

III I

Ii II I

I 1

1 11 1

IIIII

II Iii I II II II I I I I I \11 ""

IIII 1111

II I II II

III: I I l~

20

T HE ROOT S OF A T RADITI ON

T HE ROOT S OF A TRADITIO N

Most lodges were open only to males, though some ' Ladies' Lodges' were opened . T hese lod ges prol iferat ed rhro ug ho ut Englan d , a nd th en abroad in most corners o f th e British Em pi re and in parts of Eu ro pe. In 190 8 th e you ng W insto n C h u rch ill was initiated into th e O rde r, and by 19 33 th e Order had over a milli on and a half m embers. 11 T he lodges produced eng raved cert ificates, rings and even po rcelain tea sets, whi ch are so m etim e') discovered in a ntiq ue sho ps o r arc un earthed as ancestral heirl oo ms, with fam ilies rem embering th at 'G randdad was a Druid '. But eve n tho ug h the D ru id was used as a sym bo l of th e wise phil osoph er, most members of the Ancien t O rde r of D ruid s, like m ost membe rs of the G o rscd d , co ns idered th em selves C hristian, and th e O rder's main purposes were charitable and soc ial. O ver the years a number of sch isms oc curred, resu lting in different gro u ps form ing , so m e of wh ich becam e Friend ly Soc ieties th at offcred mem bers savings schemes and insura nce po licies. T he D ru ids Friend ly Society in Aust ralia flourishes to thi s d ay and has an impressive website (www.dr u id s.co rn.au). Some of th ese gro ups arc affiliated to th e ' Inte rnatio nal G rand Lod ge of D ru id ism' (www.igld.o rg) wh ich holds co ngresses and unites groups ill over a dozen counrries.P Some Freem asons also for med fraterna l D ru id gro ups d uring the nineteen th century, the most famo us being the Ancient and Archaeo logical O rde r of Dru ids, formed in 1874 to study th e co n nectio ns betw een Freemason ry and th e D ru id tr adi tion. In the days befor e the int rodu ction of th e Nat ional H ealth Service, and befo re ad equate insuran ce cover, a t ragedy of illn ess or bereavem en t often resulted in fam ilies falling into pove rty. T he fraternal movem ent gave finan cial aid to members' fam ilies who were struck by illness o r loss, and their dev elo pme nt in so me

21

"~ I'" ililo Friendly Societies w as a natural ou tcom e o f this hllil 11011,

"" ""ug h fratern al Druidry ado pted so me of 1010'S material, only beco mes problem at ic wh en we co nsid er th e dill .! ' YI ,e of D ru id movement, whi ch relate s to Druidry not as III 1I 1l' l' ira tio l1 for cultural o r fraternal activities, but as a sp iri,,,,, I I" " " in its ow n right. T h is movem ent, sta rt ing in th e early , ..,,,ti" lh centu ry, also d rew up on 1010'S w ritings - in parti cuI... hi, ' D rui d 's Praye r' , h is G o rsed d ritual, and som e of h is

'01. kg.lcy

IllU llll l u~y.

THE GO RS ED D/DRU I D'S PRAYER

Grant, 0 God, Thy protection; And in protection, strength; And in strength, understanding; And in understanding, knowl edge; And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice; And in the knowledge of ju stice, the love of it; And in that love, the love of a/l existences, And in the love of a/l existences, the love of God, and a/l goodness. 10 Mo rganwg claimed that this prayer was composed by lhaearn, the first W elsh poet known to history. Morg anwg wrote several different drafts of it, of which this was the

emu generally adopted after his death.

\ 'uh ural D ru ids, such as th e Archb isho p of Cant erbury, have 1"" ".1 lilli e prob lem in reciting 1010'S D ru id's Prayer whi le I'.ul iciparing in a ritu al that uses some or all of h is marcrial. P

22

Many spiritual D ru ids also use 1010'S prayer, though they often address it to the 'Goddess' o r 'G ods' or 'Spirit' rather than 'God', dependin g upon their beliefs abo ut the nature of Deity, and they will often usc clemen ts of his ritual to open their own meetings. But no t everyo ne is happy wit h th is usc of 1010'S material. In Britain and France, much of D ru id ry as a spiritual pat h has evolved as a result of 1010's influence, and many groups continue ro usc at least so me of his material. whi le recog nizing its his-

tory - justifYing its usc o n rhe pragm atic ground s rhat ir has been in usc lo r two hu nd red years and has, in thi s sense, becom e tradirional. But in the USA the tend ency has been to reject 1010'S work ent irely, altho ugh several D ruid groups there norably the Ancient aider of Dru ids in America - consider 1010'S creatio ns an im po rtant part of the modern D ruid tradi tion and lise them as such. 1010 fa bricarcd a body of lo re in an attempt to fulfil a desire amongst his co ntempo raries to learn abo ut the philosophy and ideals of the ancient D ru ids. T he classical authors had writte n eno ugh abour these figures to inspire read ers, bur had failed to offer more th an a brief glimpse int o the ir world. T he era of D ru id ry tha t they desc ribed lasred abo ut a rhou sand years - fro m per haps 40 0 BCE to 600 CEo Bur by rhe sixth centu ry all of Euro pe was C hristian, and overt Pagan practice had all bur ceased to exist. 1010 and his contempo raries were separated by over a th ou sand years fro m th e worl d of th e ancient D ruids . He attem pted to span thi s gap in time with his imaginatio n. and perhaps wi th sc raps of ge n uine lore . but

ironi cally, as 101 0 set abo ut his task, a movem ent was just begin ni ng which wo uld in the end fulfil th e yearn ing for a se nse of what ge nuine D ruid lore m igh t have been in a mu ch m ore satisfying way.

C rad ually, from the mid -n ineteenth cent ury o nwa rds, schol-

I..J.J-ltil l I

TH E ROOT S OF A TRAOITION

T HE ROOTS OF A TRAOITION

23

01 ' Ioq \an to study folklore and

the re was a revival of inte rest in literat ure, ini tiating a period kn own as 'The C elt ic Iwd'I\Io [', which was st im ulated to a great exrent hy wrirers 01,10 .'" W. B. Yeats, George Russell an d Fiona Macleo d. T he ,10.. ' I'lilles of Ant hropology, Folklore Stu dies, Archaeo logy and 1I,,, ,,[y all hegan to rake an inte rest in the pre-C hristia n pasr. , , Ill, Stud ies were bo rn as an acade mic d iscipline and C eltic 11I~' d ll ll()gy and literature bega n to be researched in ear ncs r. !" \ ,Ol lie of the ma terial being un earthed and discussed in aca.I .lIlh ,I lid literary circles was eagerly studied in the twentieth " 111101 Y hy th e new d isciplin es of archetypal psychology and ,01\,,10 01 studies, hut sur prisingly, it too k unril thc 1960s for the

, ,·111'

I )l

llId

m ovem ent

[0

take no tice of these develo pm en ts.

, uluu .il Dr uids really needed on ly the po mp and ceremo ny of 1,,1,,', I huidism to provide an impressive sett ing for thei r I h, ... lolf',dau. Fraternal Dru ids were never seriously engaged in II ', I .rn II int o Druidism. since their purpose lay in social and h.uua hlc wor k, and rhe spiritual D ruids had evolved suc h a .", Iylllt\ hod y of teachings thar few of the m looked elsewhere Ill' c· ll li l~l lIc n m c n t.

I, " ,,," ired a new im pulse for spiritual Druidry ro srart tak ing

," 1",.1101 , ill any q uant ity, material which would free ir of the IIW",I of hei ng an inve nted trad itio n based upon a literary

I,.,"d . Whell Ross N ichols bro ke with the Ancien t D ruid O rde r '" 1"'"111 [he O rder of Bards, O vates and Dr uids, he priori tized 01 01 1''''' cxs of focusing on histo rical and C eltic material. I tllf~,III W~'S contributions played a diminishing role in this new II, 1111 It" " , unt il by the beginning of the rwen ry-first century it . _ I UlIl illl'll lO the usc of his D ruid's Prayer, and a few clements I ," 11.,1 .11 III lore. In the USA no such break with the recent past 11,.,.01...1. and modern D ruidry there began the process of '01 111.11 illg much of the latest findings in acade mic research.

24

TH E ROOT S OF A T RADITION

After two cent ut ies of an ambivalent histor y, Druidism has finally emerged over th e last forty years to offer a spiritual way that gen uinely draws on an ancien t heritage for inspiratio n, while makin g no claim to be identi cal to the D ruidism that was practised two tho usand years ago.

4 Significant Druids I<ey Figures from the Past

II1I

Although the D ruids have left no certain, visible monuments of

tI...;, religion, they appear to have left enduring memorials in dH- minds of men.

F. E. Halliday, A History of Cornwall ~ l tI , o ll f\h mod ern Druidry as a spiritual practi ce has only .. dyrd recently, it draws on a heritage that stretches far back in 111111' , .uid we can read a number o f accounts o f prominent 1IIIIids from the anc ient past which have profoundly influ", ,..1 our perceptio n of D ruid ism tod ay. Just as accounts of ul y C hr istian saints, T ibetan lamas, or Indian gu rus blend I" I .11 ,,1 legend , so toO with these figutes we cannot be sure whr 'r histori cal accu racy gives way to mythi c vision . N,.y('l ' heless the sto ries of their lives can inspi re followers of Illlljdi~ ll1.

llu-rc is a co mmo n misconception that the ancient Druids w, n- .1 male priesthood . T h is almos t certa inly isn't co rrect . I , ", .tlc Druids (bandrui ) are menti oned in th e old Irish texts,

,,,1 ir was said th at th e famo us figure of Irish legend Fionn

i :;====="~~~~=======~~=======--

I II I II

26

I

MacCumhaill (Fin n MacC ool) was raised by a fem ale D ruid , while king Concho bar's mother was a Druid called Nessa.

,I II I

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I

'II I: I III II II I I

I

I

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Ga ine daughter of pure Gumor Nurse of mead-loving Mide, Surpassed all women though s he was s ilent; She was learned and a seer and a Druid. The Metrical Dindsenchas, Ireland

1I

11

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11

111 '1 11

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III

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10.11 tI,

' When she had finished spea king to her people, she "'I,loyt'd a spec ies of divination , lettin g a hare escape from the I , ,101 "I her d ress; and since it ran o n what th ey conside red th e I l '!j ll l m us side, the who le multi tude sho uted w ith pleasure. ",I 1I"."licea, raising her hand towa rd heaven , said, "I than k II" " Audras rc [goddess of battl e and victo ry] . .. I supplicate ""oIl'LIY thee for victory," II" , ill rhe end Boud icca was defeated by the Roman s, and

1.,, 11,., ilmn su ffer at their hands she co m mitted suicide by II"II,,"~ from a poisoned chalice.

1

I1I I1 1

27

II 1 1

II, 1

S IGNIFICANT DRUIDS

S IG NIFICAN T DRU IDS

I

I

I

III

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I :. III III I II I III I II I II II

II I

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T he classical autho rs also mention D ruidesses, D io C assius w rites of one named Ca nna who went on an embassy to Rome and was received by Dornirian, so n of Em peror Vespasian. Pomponius Mela mentions nin e virgin priestesses, wh o seem ( 0 be D ruids, who lived on the island of Sella, in Britt any, and were able to predict the furure. Aclius Lampr id ius, wr iting in the fifth cent ury CE, men tion s a D ruidess foretelling th e defeat of Alexander Severus: 'G o fortll bur hope nor for victory,' she co unselled. 'no r put your trust in yo ur warri ors." ? The most famo us wo ma n to have espo used D ru id ry is perhaps Boudicca (somet imes known as Boadicca) wh o, as leader of the Iceni trib e, was almos t certa inly steeped in Dru id ism. In 6 0 CE she led a revolt against the Ro man s whi ch nearly succeeded in ou sting them from Britain . Because she wo uld not yield to the co m mand of the local Rom an governo r, she was flogged and her daught ers were raped. In fury she raised an army wh ich sacked the Roman tow ns of Lon do n, C olchester and St. Albans. T he cities were burnt to the ground and thou sands were killed . T he classica l writ er, D ia n, in an im agin ative acco unt,

described how she used a hare to d ivine the o utco me of her firsr

, '" Irnll - the Iris h Druid

,,, 01", " " 1St famo us epi c in Irish myt hol ogy, th e Tain IJo I " ,III/lgl', the C attle Raid of C oo ley, we learn of ano ther pow""I h-male D ru id , Fide lma . Q uee n Me d b of Con nachr is oI"'Ul '" engage her armies in hat tie with King C onchobar of III",.,. She co nsults Fidelma , wh o tells her that she has just ' 111l11lCd

fro m 'learning verse and vision in Albion'. Mcdb asks

I" I il , he possesses the Light of Foresight - in ot her words, lu-tI,,·, she can sec into the futu re. Pidelm a confirms that she .. ,,,d IVI A IIJU IVI A b l e

The Path of Magic

There is yet o ne m ore way in which Dru idry ca n be pursu ed as a pa th of m agic. T he m agical approac h in Druidry, like th e m ysti cal and sharna nic, foll ows from th e beli ef tha t 'all is connected ' and th at o the r wo rlds or dimen sions exist in add ition to th e realm o f appearances. But it also takes into considera tio n th e view that we arc m eant to be here. tha t we are destin ed to be active. creative participan ts in life. and that our th ough ts. fed ings, words and actio ns all h ave an effect wh ich o beys the Law of th e H ar vest. Like ripples in a pool ca use d by a stone falling in to it. the magician sees eac h person as an influen tial bei ng. who can ca use eithe r joy or sor row by the way th at they live th ei r lives. M an y peopl e thi n k of m agic eithe r as th e creatio n of illusio n. as in stage magic. o r as the atte m pt to manipulate circums tances o r people thro ug h spel l-cas ting in o rde r to o b tain things. suc h as love or wealth. But th ere is another typ e of m agic th at is mu ch more interestin g and w hich involves at its heart sensi ng life as awe-ins p iring. as m agical in the best se nse of th e wo rd . From th is persp ective D ru id ism offers ide as and tecbniques th at ca n e nha nce o ne's awa reness of life as m agical, and ca n make the practice o f magic a co nscio us attempt to assume resp on sibility for o u r th oughts. words and deeds. T he wo rld then becomes a ma gical place. and o ne's life a m agical jo urney th at tak es place within it. Two co ncepts in D ru id ry are helpful in pursuing th e magical path. In the Aster ix ca rtoon books the D ru id Gerafix is o ften see n st irr ing a cauld ro n to create a m agical elixir tha t will co nfer su pe rh uma n streng th o n Asre rix, th e he ro of th e tal e. Suc h an elixir does exist in Druid ry - no t in th e form of an act ua l liqu id . bu t in th e form of a n ene rgy wh ich is see n as bringing illurn i-

"

insp iration and wi sdom. Known as Awen in Welsh , and in Irish, D ruids sense this as a univ ersal fo rce wh ich flows """ ug h th e wo rld and w h ich ca n be enco uraged to flow tl"""gh us to bring us th ese gifts . T he words ' l m bas' an d 'Awen' ", ' chnn ted in ce remon ies o r m editati on. and the study of thi s Inn c, and how to encourage it in o ur lives. forms the basis of uu uh D ru id tr ain in g. Ano the r force is said to exist to o - NUlyfte. wh ich is a W elsh wo n ], d eriving from a n a nc ien t C el tic word Naomb, m eaning liu namcnt' or ' hea ven s'. N wy fre is t he life for ce that flows 11, 11io n,

/,"/IIiS

"" '"lgh th e Universe. and whi ch is called C hi o r Q i in C hina 1111 1 l'run a in Indi a. By cultivating th e flow o f N wyfre and Awen , th e D ru id aims iu ,mpro ve th eir ph ysical vitality and thei r creative ability. In doing ,I",. th e Druid has access to two powerful 'elixirs' wh ich can aid hi ll, or her in a wo rk whi ch is essent ially alc he m ical. Alc he my. . _ .1 branch of magic, can he practised either as an external o r as an I'"l'rna l art . Used externa lly it atte m pts to m anipulat e m att er c rcare go ld. Used internally it attem pts to transform the ,I, hcm ist, sym bolic., lIy or metaphorically, into gold . Rath er than

'