Post by jadedsage on Mar 17, 2004 22:35:34 GMT -5
by Greywolf (Email)
History
Druidry is an indigenous, earth-ancestor spirituality rooted in the islands of Britain and Ireland. Just as Native American, Maori, Aboriginal and African cultures are understood to have ancient spiritual traditions based on the peoples' connection with the land and their blood and cultural heritage, so people of Northwest European ancestry have Druidry. Its roots stretch back through the veils of history and beyond to the first settlers on Britain's shores after the receding flows of the Ice Age 12,000 years ago, yet only if we look closely at what Druidry is: a spiritual philosophy based on natural law.
Historians generally associate Druids with the Iron Age Celtic culture that spread out from central Europe from about 800 to 200 BCE, yet the Celtic people of Gaul maintained that Druidry originated in Britain and that Druids from continental Europe came here to study.
Our first written evidence of the word 'Druid' comes from Roman texts of the turn of the millennium into the Common Era when Roman armies were moving through north west Europe and into Britain. The Druids were described as an intellectual and religious elite working amongst the tribal peoples, holding power as custodians of their cultural and spiritual heritage, practising their rites in urban shrines and woodland groves, revering the natural world as sacred, and in particular honouring certain trees, plants and animals, rivers, lakes and springs.
Nor did Druidry die out with the cultural changes introduced by the Romans, Saxons or Vikings. Druidry was an oral tradition and survived as Druids continued to practise as bards, advisors and priests, working with the power of the land and the wisdom of their ancestors, within a spiritual philosophy which naturally adapts, evolving through time. Clear remnants of the old teachings survived in the Bardic colleges of Wales, Ireland and Scotland which remained active until the 17th century, as well as in medieval manuscripts and folk lore.
Organization
The Mother Grove of the British Druid Order (BDO) was formed in 1979. The Order is currently under the guidance of founder, Philip Shallcrass (Greywolf) and Emma Restall Orr (Bobcat) as joint Chiefs, their role being that of facilitators and guides. Philip is a Druid priest, musician, artist, poet and writer. Emma is a priestess, a writer, Druid teacher, poet, singer and soul counsellor. Both lecture and present workshops on many aspects of Druid tradition. Both have practical experience in numerous magical, mystical, spiritual and shamanic traditions, all of which they bring together in the BDO to create a unique brand of pagan Druidry.
The Order has links with other Druid groups in Britain and overseas. We also work with other faiths and traditions, finding common cause and common sources of inspiration with those who follow other spiritual paths.
The BDO works with native British tradition. The term `British' is used not in a narrow political or nationalistic sense, but to evoke a time when the two islands of Ierne (Ireland) and Albion (England, Scotland and Wales) were jointly known as the Pretannic Isles, from the Pretani, `the Painted People,' who were our spiritual and physical ancestors. We draw inspiration from the sacred land and from our ancestry; the mud and blood of Britain, whose myths and mysteries are the well-spring of our tradition. Druidry in its heyday is understood to have been a pan-European tradition and in our practice we seek to recreate an understanding of Druidry as the native spirituality not only of Britain, but of Europe, Europeans and European descendents living across the world. The process of restoration involves recovering a sense of the sacred in all areas of our lives so that we can begin to heal ourselves, our society and our land. Although we work with the long spiritual and cultural heritage of Druidry, we are not bound by any one aspect of it. We are not seeking to recreate a Druidry that may have existed 5000, 2000, 200 or 50 years ago. Seeing Druidry as a process of constant change and renewal, held within the natural cycles of regeneration and evolution, the tradition is continually recreated to address the needs of each generation. The BDO works as an active agent in that process.
Core beliefs
Blood and Spirit
We honour our ancestors of blood and of spirit, those recently departed and those of old, our physical forebears and the predecessors of our tradition, the Druids, priests and priestesses of past ages and the old Gods of our people. By working with them we establish creative and healing links with the spiritual and cultural heritage of our land and its people and with our own kinfolk who have entered the spirit world before us. Within the tradition the old Celtic deities are honoured, such as Nemetona and Ceridwen, as well as the Gods of other peoples who have made these islands their home, whose blood and bones have mingled with the mud and stones of our sacred land, gods such as the Saxon Woden and Roman Mercury. Some within the tradition honour the life force as one overruling deity, while others practise animistically, revering nameless gods that are the spirits of nature. There are members of the Order, too, who work within the Christian philosophy, connecting to the powers of the earth and the ancestors through the Christian god, Druidry deepening their roots with the Pretannic lands.
Awen
The essence of the Order's teaching lies in working with the spiritual energy known as Awen. Awen literally means `flowing spirit.' The Bards of medieval Britain saw it as the source of their inspiration and as a gift bestowed by the Christian god, but also by an ancient pagan goddess, Ceridwen, `the Crooked Woman,' or `Bent White One,' who they referred to as the patroness of their order. The energy and direction of the BDO are generated by contact with this flowing spirit, through which the Order maintains an open, dynamic, and fluid structure, responsive to the needs of time, place, people and spirit. Those who work with the Order are encouraged to make their own links with this spirit of inspiration, through which they might find their own energy and creativity, and thereby discover and walk their own sacred path to joy, peace, healing, ecstasy and the gods.
Bard, Ovate and Druid
The Order recognises the three traditional areas of Druidic practice, those of Bard, Ovate (Ofydd), and Druid (Derwydd). In the Story of Taliesin, the Bard receives three gifts from the Cauldron of Inspiration brewed by the goddess Ceridwen: poetry, prophecy and shape-shifting. These gifts typify the roles of Bard, Ovate and Druid respectively. Each area of study is a process of discovery and healing, of the individual, of society and of the land.
Though aspects of the work done in each overlaps with the others, the journey through the Druid tradition takes us through each of the three facets. The BDO itself does not routinely offer initiation into any of these areas. We see initiation as an individual process which must result from a personal spiritual quest. The role of the Order is to offer guidance, helping people to find and focus their own sources of inspiration.
As a Bard, Awen is directed into creativity. The Bards of old were inspired poets, musicians and storytellers, as well as seers, diviners, dream-weavers and word magicians who sang the world alive, and who, through the exercise of their skills, perpetually renewed the spiritual power of the gods and heroes of their people. The BDO seeks to renew that energy by encouraging a new generation of Bards to walk the Earth in a sacred manner; to rediscover its holy places; to learn how to listen and truly hear the voice of spirit, and so to recover the ancient songs and stories of the ancestors and nature, bringing them back to life for the renewal of land, life, love, liberty and laughter.
One of the ways in which we do this is to establish open, multi-faith Gorseddau (ceremonial gatherings of Bards) at sacred sites in Britain and overseas. These Gorseddau, which may choose to be affiliated to the BDO, offer Bardic initiation, rites of passage and the celebration of the cycle of seasonal festivals, encouraging the forming of spiritual and aesthetic links with the sacred land.
The Ovate, or Ofydd directs Awen into the development of gifts of prophecy and divination, the healing arts and awareness of the Faery realms - the Otherworld. Learning the power of seeing and envisioning, the Ovate seeks understanding through study of the natural world, working with the shadowside of life and the processes of death, of letting go, of the mysteries of time, of preparing the ground and facilitating with rebirth the advent of the new. The Ovate is an artist of light and dark, painting with energy and colour, creating opportunities for transition and healing.
The Druid, or Derwydd, applies Awen to the roles of ritual celebrant, guide and teacher. Journeying through and between the worlds, the Druid finds inspiration in the diversity of nature and the power of sacred relationship, creating bridges between cultures, traditions and peoples, between spirit and form, deity and seeker, knowing and not-knowing, and so creates pathways that are inspiring to others. So the Druid is a peace maker and an initiator, relating the Awen to the Earth energies, or Dragon lines, which run through the landscape, connecting sacred places and times.
History
Druidry is an indigenous, earth-ancestor spirituality rooted in the islands of Britain and Ireland. Just as Native American, Maori, Aboriginal and African cultures are understood to have ancient spiritual traditions based on the peoples' connection with the land and their blood and cultural heritage, so people of Northwest European ancestry have Druidry. Its roots stretch back through the veils of history and beyond to the first settlers on Britain's shores after the receding flows of the Ice Age 12,000 years ago, yet only if we look closely at what Druidry is: a spiritual philosophy based on natural law.
Historians generally associate Druids with the Iron Age Celtic culture that spread out from central Europe from about 800 to 200 BCE, yet the Celtic people of Gaul maintained that Druidry originated in Britain and that Druids from continental Europe came here to study.
Our first written evidence of the word 'Druid' comes from Roman texts of the turn of the millennium into the Common Era when Roman armies were moving through north west Europe and into Britain. The Druids were described as an intellectual and religious elite working amongst the tribal peoples, holding power as custodians of their cultural and spiritual heritage, practising their rites in urban shrines and woodland groves, revering the natural world as sacred, and in particular honouring certain trees, plants and animals, rivers, lakes and springs.
Nor did Druidry die out with the cultural changes introduced by the Romans, Saxons or Vikings. Druidry was an oral tradition and survived as Druids continued to practise as bards, advisors and priests, working with the power of the land and the wisdom of their ancestors, within a spiritual philosophy which naturally adapts, evolving through time. Clear remnants of the old teachings survived in the Bardic colleges of Wales, Ireland and Scotland which remained active until the 17th century, as well as in medieval manuscripts and folk lore.
Organization
The Mother Grove of the British Druid Order (BDO) was formed in 1979. The Order is currently under the guidance of founder, Philip Shallcrass (Greywolf) and Emma Restall Orr (Bobcat) as joint Chiefs, their role being that of facilitators and guides. Philip is a Druid priest, musician, artist, poet and writer. Emma is a priestess, a writer, Druid teacher, poet, singer and soul counsellor. Both lecture and present workshops on many aspects of Druid tradition. Both have practical experience in numerous magical, mystical, spiritual and shamanic traditions, all of which they bring together in the BDO to create a unique brand of pagan Druidry.
The Order has links with other Druid groups in Britain and overseas. We also work with other faiths and traditions, finding common cause and common sources of inspiration with those who follow other spiritual paths.
The BDO works with native British tradition. The term `British' is used not in a narrow political or nationalistic sense, but to evoke a time when the two islands of Ierne (Ireland) and Albion (England, Scotland and Wales) were jointly known as the Pretannic Isles, from the Pretani, `the Painted People,' who were our spiritual and physical ancestors. We draw inspiration from the sacred land and from our ancestry; the mud and blood of Britain, whose myths and mysteries are the well-spring of our tradition. Druidry in its heyday is understood to have been a pan-European tradition and in our practice we seek to recreate an understanding of Druidry as the native spirituality not only of Britain, but of Europe, Europeans and European descendents living across the world. The process of restoration involves recovering a sense of the sacred in all areas of our lives so that we can begin to heal ourselves, our society and our land. Although we work with the long spiritual and cultural heritage of Druidry, we are not bound by any one aspect of it. We are not seeking to recreate a Druidry that may have existed 5000, 2000, 200 or 50 years ago. Seeing Druidry as a process of constant change and renewal, held within the natural cycles of regeneration and evolution, the tradition is continually recreated to address the needs of each generation. The BDO works as an active agent in that process.
Core beliefs
Blood and Spirit
We honour our ancestors of blood and of spirit, those recently departed and those of old, our physical forebears and the predecessors of our tradition, the Druids, priests and priestesses of past ages and the old Gods of our people. By working with them we establish creative and healing links with the spiritual and cultural heritage of our land and its people and with our own kinfolk who have entered the spirit world before us. Within the tradition the old Celtic deities are honoured, such as Nemetona and Ceridwen, as well as the Gods of other peoples who have made these islands their home, whose blood and bones have mingled with the mud and stones of our sacred land, gods such as the Saxon Woden and Roman Mercury. Some within the tradition honour the life force as one overruling deity, while others practise animistically, revering nameless gods that are the spirits of nature. There are members of the Order, too, who work within the Christian philosophy, connecting to the powers of the earth and the ancestors through the Christian god, Druidry deepening their roots with the Pretannic lands.
Awen
The essence of the Order's teaching lies in working with the spiritual energy known as Awen. Awen literally means `flowing spirit.' The Bards of medieval Britain saw it as the source of their inspiration and as a gift bestowed by the Christian god, but also by an ancient pagan goddess, Ceridwen, `the Crooked Woman,' or `Bent White One,' who they referred to as the patroness of their order. The energy and direction of the BDO are generated by contact with this flowing spirit, through which the Order maintains an open, dynamic, and fluid structure, responsive to the needs of time, place, people and spirit. Those who work with the Order are encouraged to make their own links with this spirit of inspiration, through which they might find their own energy and creativity, and thereby discover and walk their own sacred path to joy, peace, healing, ecstasy and the gods.
Bard, Ovate and Druid
The Order recognises the three traditional areas of Druidic practice, those of Bard, Ovate (Ofydd), and Druid (Derwydd). In the Story of Taliesin, the Bard receives three gifts from the Cauldron of Inspiration brewed by the goddess Ceridwen: poetry, prophecy and shape-shifting. These gifts typify the roles of Bard, Ovate and Druid respectively. Each area of study is a process of discovery and healing, of the individual, of society and of the land.
Though aspects of the work done in each overlaps with the others, the journey through the Druid tradition takes us through each of the three facets. The BDO itself does not routinely offer initiation into any of these areas. We see initiation as an individual process which must result from a personal spiritual quest. The role of the Order is to offer guidance, helping people to find and focus their own sources of inspiration.
As a Bard, Awen is directed into creativity. The Bards of old were inspired poets, musicians and storytellers, as well as seers, diviners, dream-weavers and word magicians who sang the world alive, and who, through the exercise of their skills, perpetually renewed the spiritual power of the gods and heroes of their people. The BDO seeks to renew that energy by encouraging a new generation of Bards to walk the Earth in a sacred manner; to rediscover its holy places; to learn how to listen and truly hear the voice of spirit, and so to recover the ancient songs and stories of the ancestors and nature, bringing them back to life for the renewal of land, life, love, liberty and laughter.
One of the ways in which we do this is to establish open, multi-faith Gorseddau (ceremonial gatherings of Bards) at sacred sites in Britain and overseas. These Gorseddau, which may choose to be affiliated to the BDO, offer Bardic initiation, rites of passage and the celebration of the cycle of seasonal festivals, encouraging the forming of spiritual and aesthetic links with the sacred land.
The Ovate, or Ofydd directs Awen into the development of gifts of prophecy and divination, the healing arts and awareness of the Faery realms - the Otherworld. Learning the power of seeing and envisioning, the Ovate seeks understanding through study of the natural world, working with the shadowside of life and the processes of death, of letting go, of the mysteries of time, of preparing the ground and facilitating with rebirth the advent of the new. The Ovate is an artist of light and dark, painting with energy and colour, creating opportunities for transition and healing.
The Druid, or Derwydd, applies Awen to the roles of ritual celebrant, guide and teacher. Journeying through and between the worlds, the Druid finds inspiration in the diversity of nature and the power of sacred relationship, creating bridges between cultures, traditions and peoples, between spirit and form, deity and seeker, knowing and not-knowing, and so creates pathways that are inspiring to others. So the Druid is a peace maker and an initiator, relating the Awen to the Earth energies, or Dragon lines, which run through the landscape, connecting sacred places and times.