What is Druidry?
Introduction
According to the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, "Druidry is a vital and dynamic nature spirituality that is flourishing all over the world. It unites our love of the earth with our love of creativity and the arts. Flowing through all the exciting new developments in modern druidism is the power of an ancient tradition: the love of land, sea and sky – the love of the earth our home" (druidry.org). The Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) describes druidry as, "a path of nature spirituality and inner transformation founded on personal experience rather than dogmatic belief. It welcomes people of all national origins, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, races, genders, abilities, and affiliations with other Druidic and spiritual traditions" (aoda.org). Druidry is a dynamic and inclusive worldview that focuses on harmony with nature and other beings. Modern druidry has three conceptual pillars: knowledge, power, and peace. These concepts are represented by the three dots, rays, and outer circles of the Awen symbol.
Ancient Druids were a "member of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They acted as priests, teachers, and judges. The earliest known records of the Druids come from the 3rd century BCE. Their name may have come from a Celtic word meaning “knower of the oak tree.” Very little is known for certain about the Druids, who kept no records of their own" (britannica.com). During the 17th century, historians attempted to research druidry and reconstruct its potential beliefs. For example, the Ancient Order of the Druids in America (AODA) state that druids "taught a secret wisdom that had something to do with trees, and their sacred places were [groves] in forests. Some of the old writers call Druids philosophers, others call them wizards" (aoda.org).
Our strategy in the Druid Order (DO) is to envision what Druidry might have been, i.e. studying and theorizing about what it means to be human. We include insights from other modern Druid orders to help define our philosophy. The Druid Order proposes six concepts that are critical to druidry: Awen, creativity, nature, metaphysics, and reincarnation.
Awen
A critical concept to modern Druidry is the Awen, "the spirit of inspiration. Each soul has its own unique Awen — its own purpose in existence.....and the unique challenge of human existence is to come to know, understand, and fulfill this unique purpose" (aoda.com). Thus, the rule of life....may be defined simply by these words: "find and follow your own Awen" (aoda.com). The Awen symbol is used by modern Druids to represent Druidry. It consists of three parts: three dots, three rays emanating from those dots, and the outer circle. To the DO, it's three rays correspond to the three pillars of Druidry: knowledge, power, and peace. Its circular shape represents a sacred formation to the Druids as their oak tree groves were formed into circles.
Creativity
The act of creation is a sacred process of bringing forth something from the depths of potential through the application of sense-making to raw physical or mental materials. Sense-making is a cognitive process whereby the individual interacts with the environment in order to understand its meaning, personal significance, and potential. The Awen is said to bring divine inspiration to an individual to help them creatively express themselves according to their true inner self. Feeling and embracing the call of your Awen is like finding flow during the creative process. It is an invigorating and effervescent feeling that generates flowing and genuine creative inspiration. Awen inspiration can be applied to craft personal masterworks that help the individual explore and reflect on who they are and communicate that experience to others. The Druid Order celebrates creativity in all of its forms and views the creative process as a method for humans to realize their full potential.
Nature
Druids work to develop a genuine relationship to the natural world by adminring its beauty, sending positive loving energy, and learning how it works. In particular, trees are considered sacred for their role in nature and sustaining human life, and crystals are considered sacred for their ability to amplify, refine, transform, and generate natural spiritual and physical energy. The Ogham is a celtic tree alphabet associated with druidry where each letter represents a tree and has a spiritual meaning. Observing and understanding nature's processes, growth patterns, and cycles can provide insight and intuition. For example, contemplating the relationship between a seed, tree, and forest, can lead to new understandings.
Enactive emergence is the theory that the Druid Order users to explain both human cognition and nature. The cognitive science theory of enaction is combined with the theory of emergence and dynamical systems theory to arrive at a conception of life that the DO calls enactive emergence.
Metaphysical Foundations of Druidry
According to John Michael Greer in Druidry: A Green Way of Wisdom (2003), there are three fundamental qualities of life in existence according to the Druid paradigm: calas (matter), nwyfre (life), and gwyar (flow) (aoda.org). Calas (pronounced “CAH-lass”) “comes from the same root word as caled, a Welsh word for “hard,” and means solidity (aoda.org). As an element, calas is the source of form, differentiation, manifestation, and stability. Its image in nature is stone” (aoda.org) Calas is all matter in existence, such as the Earth, minerals, human bodies, etc. It is everything solid and that which composes it.
Nwyfre (pronounced “Nooiv-ruh”) “is an old Welsh term meaning “sky” or “heaven” (aoda.org). As an element nwyfre is the source of life and consciousness, and modern Druids refer to it simply as the life force. Its image in nature is the blue sky” (aoda.org). is the life force that animates matter into living beings. It is the essence of life itself. This fundamental energy has been called different things around the world, such as: chi, life force, aura, inner light, spirit, lifeblood, and Shakti.
Gwyar (pronounced “Goo-yar”) is the flow of life through time that creates experiential existence (aoda.org). It “literally means “blood” in old Welsh, but its more general meaning is “flow” or “fluidity” (aoda.org). As an element, gwyar is the source of change, motion, growth, and decay. Its image in nature is running water.” (aoda.org). Each type of callas (matter) has a unique flow through time. Water can flow quickly, while honey would flow more slowly. Each life has a trajectory and flow through time that could be referred to as its gwyar. Thus, there is a goal to life that each person could be trying to accomplish. In this sense, life is like the process of finding your Awen mentioned earlier.
Reincarnation
There is some evidence that the ancient Druids believed in reincarnation. At the time of death, one is said to transition to what is known as the Otherworld. In this Otherworld, the ancients of druidry and other walks of life exist in harmony and cooperation taking care of the Earth in the ways they can. Death is like a transition between different states of existence or states of being.
When the time is right, the individuals in the Otherworld can reincarnate on Earth to have a particular type of experience or accomplish something. Each soul continues to evolve through each incarnation, accruing life experience that carry over through each life, even when the memories do not.
It is like each soul is a branch of the tree of life. Each person’s life is like a leaf on that branch, and their soul is the branch itself. The direction that you are flowing in and the event probability distribution of which you are a part of is called the wyrd. Wyrd is a Norse concept referring to fate or personal destiny. It relates to the timelines and probabilities of potential future events weaving together based on a certain flow. This flow is like the direction that your soul branch is growing in, rooting what possibilities may exist based on its structure and growth patterns of your soul evolution thus far. That flow through time is what is called gwyar in the Druid tradition.
References
Greer, J.M. (2003) Druidry: A Green Way of Wisdom.
https://aoda.org Accessed August 2022.
https://druidry.org Accessed August 2022.
