Druids

Druids were an intellectual and religious caste among the tribal peoples of pagan Europe and were custodians of their cultural and spiritual heritage in the centuries before our Common Era (BCE). They practised their rites in urban shrines and woodland groves, holding the natural world as sacred, in particular honouring certain trees, plants and animals, rivers, lakes and springs. 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. Archaeological evidence suggests that many aspects of Celtic religious practice derived from much earlier traditions. Remnants of Druid teachings survived in the Bardic colleges in Wales, Ireland and Scotland which remained active until the 17th century, in medieval manuscripts, and in oral tradition, folk lore and ritual.

The 18th century saw a Druid revival, inspired by a renewed interest in Classical and medieval Celtic literature and antiquarian studies of ancient sacred sites. This revival had links with Non-conformist Christianity, Freemasonry and revolutionary politics. The late 20th century has witnessed another renaissance in Druidry, inspired by the renewed interest in alternative spiritualities from the 1960s, by the `green' movement and by contact with other Nature-based spiritual traditions, notably modern Witchcraft and the `shamanic' cultures of North America and elsewhere.

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 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 living spirit of the gods and heroes of their people. 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 Druid acts as a bridge builder between cultures, traditions and peoples, between spirit and form.