From a Druid's Perspective 11/30/2009: "Christian Druids?!?!"

A bit over 20 years ago when I first got started down a Pagan path, I veered as far away from Christianity as I could. I think most newbie Pagans do. It is an attempt to "break ties" with an old way of life. Likewise when I started in my calling in the role of Druid I had heard of some organizations having Christian Druids. At the time it was a hard pill to swallow because I had left the concepts of Christianity behind very completely. But like any good scholar I did my research and chewed on the conundrum.

As I have stated in my previous Druid post, I learned that "Druid" is a role within society. A role that, although it has priestly functions, is most definitely NOT just a priest. Druids were the scholarly elite of ancient Celtic culture. I realized this truth through the creation of a Neo-Celtic tribe of friends. But what is MORE surprising is that I also realized that in the modern sense, a Druid didn't even have to be Pagan to fill the role for his modern tribe.

In our little experiment of a Neo-Celtic tribe, not all of the members of the group were Pagan. In fact the minority of the group was Pagan. But as I had stated in my other blog we were tied together by our love of all things Celtic. So, to honour our Celtic heritage the people who were more spiritual in the group banded together as "Druids" for our little tribe. And as I have said earlier, the Pagans were in the minority. Now at the time, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the concept of my Christian friends fulfilling the role of "Druids" in our tribe. But I soon realized that the role was the same even if the God names were different, the point of reference was our Celtic identity. And of course when you look at the modern Celtic world you can see that it kind of makes sense.

But you are asking, what defines the concept of "the modern Celt"??? In a word, language. We define the concept of racial groups nowadays by what common language they speak. Although it is slowly fading away there are still speakers of the surviving Celtic languages out there. Many of them still living in the places of their ancestors in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and some of the outer islands around the UK. And with the modern quest for the Celtic diaspora to "connect" there has been in recent years an upswing in the number of speakers as people are taking the time to learn the old languages anew.

With that being said, to understand why Christian Druids make sense, you must also understand that the majority of Celtic language speakers around the world ARE CHRISTIAN. But what ties us Celtic Pagans together with our Christian Druid brothers and sisters isn't so much the religions but our love of all things Celtic and the connection it gives us to our ancient past. And besides a great many of the Christians in the Celtic world practice a version of Christianity that is startlingly different from what most folks know. In fact it could be said that it is Christianity with it's Pagan roots still showing.

Now, this said, you can see that it isn't so much the religion of the ancients that the modern Druids are trying to emulate. Modern Druids are the keepers of ancient Celtic tradition. Their role is to serve their tribe. And if the tribe is Celtic and Christian, well the modern Druid just might want to have some knowledge about the subject to help his "flock".

You might be saying that if a Christian is so incline to be a spiritual leader why not go a be a priest. To be perfectly honest the priesthood is not for everyone, and sometimes the people who need you as a Druid may not want to go to a Christian priest for comfort. It can be as simple as being able to be there "Celtically" for your fellow Celt. Not all problems folks have need spiritual guidence to be solved.


Let me also say this, you should not just add any old thing to your spiritualty and call it "Druid" or "Celtic". To honour the path of the Celt and the Druid you must know what they were through scholarship. Adding something to your personal path because it feels right is one thing, adding it and saying it is something it is not is another. The ancient Druids weren't decendants of Noah, or Shinto Monks, nor were the Celts for that matter. Saying that the Druids were Christian is a falsehood, saying that modern Druids can be Christian is truth. And really it is all about seeking the truth in all things. ;-)

From a Druid's Perspective 11/08/2009: "Druidism is NOT a Religion"

"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.