"Druidism is NOT a Religion"
Have ya ever reached a end point in your faith and have been unsure as to how to proceed??? I did about 6 years ago. I was well on my way in my Druid path when I had a crisis of faith. I didn't understand "Druid Organizations", such as ADF, Keltria, OBOD, etc. From all my research about Druids from Iron Age antiquity I realized that almost all of the modern Druid organizations out there had something missing, the lay people. Ancient Druids were the facilitators of Celtic religion not THE religion. The ancient Celts didn't practice Druidism and modern Druids were just Druids being priests to other priests. It didn't make sense to me. When I made this realization I wasn't even sure that I could continue my path as I had before. I felt that I didn't want to be a Druid for other Druids so much as I wanted to be a Druid for those that needed me.
For a while I was just adrift in my own sea of sorrow. I stopped caring about being a Druid because it didn't make sense to me to be one anymore. But too much had been ingrained into me while on my path. I couldn't quit. Too much pride I guess. But I also couldn't quit learning either. It was then that I discovered the concept of the modern tribe, a concept that had been under my nose the whole time!!!
Let me explain... In late 2001 early 2002 one of the friends I had went to High School with and I had an idea. He and I were BOTH heavily into all things Celtic. Between the two of us we had about 40 folks who were both friends and acquaintances who we both thought highly of. So after doing some research we decided to organize our friends and relations into a little private club founded along the lines of the ancient Celtic tribal structure. Due to things like moves and divorces our little club imploded after a couple of years, but those couple of years were a BLAST while they lasted.
The sad thing is that after my own divorce I promptly forgot all about our little Neo-Celtic Clan. However while researching about the modern idea of tribe it all came rushing back. Here was the solution to my Druid path. Here was how I found my faith again. The modern concept of "Tribe".
It was then that I realized that "Druid" is NOT (and really shouldn't be considered) a religion but a ROLE within the religion of Celtic Spirituality. (I say "spirituality" and not Paganism for a reason I will make clear in a future Blog) By seeing my path as my ROLE in my modern concept of tribe I finally felt totally at home being a Druid. And the best part is that most Celtic scholars and Reconstructionists agree!!! Research tends to back it up.
Don't get me wrong, I know that there are some die hard folks out there that will disagree with me that "Druid is NOT a Religion". That is all fine by me, live and let live. However if you ever reach the same crisis of faith that I did once upon a time, write me and we will talk about it. You just might find that "Druid IS a ROLE within the spirituality" and not the religion you thought it was.
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Coolbeads! Since I tend to hold to the idea that the majority of pre-Christian spirituality fell more under the banner of family/tribal ancestor veneration and localized gods, with some of the more widespread deities hooking up thru common areas of specialization, I'll buy that t-shirt.
ReplyDeleteWhen people look at religion in antiquity, I don't think they take into account that often organized religion was about the gods of the state or nationality, for holidays, large scale events, or professional devotees, and not as much a part of John Doe Everyman's daily life.
(is that enough plug for me to raid your library?) :D
Meant to add this: do you read Pagans For Archaeology any? Yvonne's been keeping up with the Avebury remains proceedings, among other stuff:
ReplyDeletehttp://archaeopagans.blogspot.com/
You hit the nail right on the head. Religion was not all that organized for the everyday Celt. Sure most villages had a Druid or two living among the people. They acted as doctors and lawyers/judges most of the time as well as being spiritual guides for people when they had questions about the Gods. But it wasn't like going to Christian Church is in the modern day. The lay people were mostly in charge of their own spirituality. The Druid mostly only trotted out the pagentry for the High Holy days.
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