Greetings guys, I'm Ben and I'm a practicing druid from Shropshire, England. I thought it would be apt to write an overview in here for future visitors to use as reference and a spring board for subsequent discussion. 
A Brief History
The druids (derwydd/drui) were an ancient race of Celtic peoples who resided primarily in Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Ireland, England and Gaul (now North Western Europe). Carbon dating of monolithic and megalithic structures across these regions has led to the understandable conclusion that they are the people responsible for the creation of the likes of Stone Henge (Hengor Carreg) in England (3000BC to 2000BC) and New Grange in Ireland (Sí an Bhrú 3200BC). Both of these sites were built in perfect astrological alignment with the cyclical movements of celestial bodies that still sees the summer and winter solstices portrayed in dramatic perfection 5000 years later in present day, having been constructed 2000 years before Pythagoras was even born, yet seemingly applying “his” laws...
During the expansion of Rome (and henceforth Christianity) most of Europe and the British Isles were colonised. This colonisation was ground to a halt simultaneously by the Picts (a Celtic [now Scottish] race) in the North, the Druids in Anglesey (Ynys Môn) to the West, the forces of Iceni Queen Boudica (now Norflok, England) and the Germanic tribes of Northern Gaul to the East. The combination of harsh climates, guerilla warfare tactics, not a small amount of magic (!) and the assault on four points of a compass (a part of druidic ritual) began the swift erosion of one of the most powerful empires this world has ever seen.
Prior to Rome’s collapse they pursued their usual tactics of sociological and religious integration with the indigenous tribes-folk, enlisting many into their ranks with promises of gold, fine wines, glory and spoils of war. As such, many of our ancient sacred sites and practices were bastardised and the structures that stood according to our understanding of ley line energy became the very churches and important buildings that still stand today across our land scape, many of them still showing the signs of cultures past in their architecture in the form of gargoyles, green men and astrological symbols. Rome was not shy in assuming a culture into itself like a ravenous monster that ate all it saw but that is a two sided coin...as it only kept the parts it had reverence and respect for. One might ponder current day Christian festivals at this point.
What is a Druid?
A Druid is a person who has decided to practice a certain strain of shamanic spirituality that seeks to develop their self in three distinct ways:
1) To become as creative as possible within our lives (the Bard: artist, storyteller, poet)
2) To commune deeply and totally with Nature (the Ovate: shaman, healer)
3) To gain access to Source wisdom (the Druid: sage, magician)
This philosophy is displayed by our symbol “Awen” (flow of spirit) as shown above. Druids believe that their spiritual paths should be free from dogma and some druids practice other paths alongside, albeit those paths tend to follow a similar spiritual belief in the profundity and beauty of nature (although not always), such as Wicca (Light Witch Craft), Shamanism and Paganism in general. We believe that Source (all) is constructed as a dynamic summation of Nature in all her expressions and that no one expression of Nature has supremacy over another. Should this be the case, there would be an imbalance Source itself would regress into destruction rather than knowledge of Self. In this sense, all are equal but Nature’s infinite expressions (insect, plant, tree, animal, human, ocean, mountain, planet, galaxy, dimension) as a total is Divine. Within that (overly expansive to the point of being all inclusive!) confinement we are free to practice as monotheists (belief in one God) or polytheists (belief in many Gods at one time) and if it’s the latter our choice of pantheon (set of Gods attributed to a certain religion eg Grecian, Hindu etc) is entirely our choice and not restricted to one, it can be mixed up as preferred. The reason for this is that druidry is essentially not a religion; it is a spiritual path with the intention of developing the individual who, in turn, lends him/herself as a greater constituent asset to Nature as a whole. (It is worthy of note at this juncture that although many pantheons are used across the world, the most studied, believed and prolific is the Welsh pantheon of Arthurian legend/myth).
Druids have a steadfast belief (derived from direct experience) of the Otherworld. The Otherworld is the place we were born from, we go to when we die, we visit during trance and dream state and also palpably sense around us at all times. When we die we have a life in the Otherworld before we are born back into this one. This is replicated daily/nightly in the twin states of consciousness and sleep and forms the microscopic version of “as above, so below” denoting that the cycle of birth and death over a longer lifetime duration is merely the bigger brother of daily journeying. The Otherworld exists interwoven with this one and is explained by many New Age teachings as a multi dimensional reality. This is one and the same, which is why so many of us have odd experiences that our taught rules cannot explain. We are interacting with the Otherworld whilst allowing our logic and reason to deny the possibility that what just happened...happened! To a druid both worlds are one and the same and totally experiential.
More to follow...
A Brief History
The druids (derwydd/drui) were an ancient race of Celtic peoples who resided primarily in Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Ireland, England and Gaul (now North Western Europe). Carbon dating of monolithic and megalithic structures across these regions has led to the understandable conclusion that they are the people responsible for the creation of the likes of Stone Henge (Hengor Carreg) in England (3000BC to 2000BC) and New Grange in Ireland (Sí an Bhrú 3200BC). Both of these sites were built in perfect astrological alignment with the cyclical movements of celestial bodies that still sees the summer and winter solstices portrayed in dramatic perfection 5000 years later in present day, having been constructed 2000 years before Pythagoras was even born, yet seemingly applying “his” laws...
During the expansion of Rome (and henceforth Christianity) most of Europe and the British Isles were colonised. This colonisation was ground to a halt simultaneously by the Picts (a Celtic [now Scottish] race) in the North, the Druids in Anglesey (Ynys Môn) to the West, the forces of Iceni Queen Boudica (now Norflok, England) and the Germanic tribes of Northern Gaul to the East. The combination of harsh climates, guerilla warfare tactics, not a small amount of magic (!) and the assault on four points of a compass (a part of druidic ritual) began the swift erosion of one of the most powerful empires this world has ever seen.
Prior to Rome’s collapse they pursued their usual tactics of sociological and religious integration with the indigenous tribes-folk, enlisting many into their ranks with promises of gold, fine wines, glory and spoils of war. As such, many of our ancient sacred sites and practices were bastardised and the structures that stood according to our understanding of ley line energy became the very churches and important buildings that still stand today across our land scape, many of them still showing the signs of cultures past in their architecture in the form of gargoyles, green men and astrological symbols. Rome was not shy in assuming a culture into itself like a ravenous monster that ate all it saw but that is a two sided coin...as it only kept the parts it had reverence and respect for. One might ponder current day Christian festivals at this point.
What is a Druid?
A Druid is a person who has decided to practice a certain strain of shamanic spirituality that seeks to develop their self in three distinct ways:
1) To become as creative as possible within our lives (the Bard: artist, storyteller, poet)
2) To commune deeply and totally with Nature (the Ovate: shaman, healer)
3) To gain access to Source wisdom (the Druid: sage, magician)
This philosophy is displayed by our symbol “Awen” (flow of spirit) as shown above. Druids believe that their spiritual paths should be free from dogma and some druids practice other paths alongside, albeit those paths tend to follow a similar spiritual belief in the profundity and beauty of nature (although not always), such as Wicca (Light Witch Craft), Shamanism and Paganism in general. We believe that Source (all) is constructed as a dynamic summation of Nature in all her expressions and that no one expression of Nature has supremacy over another. Should this be the case, there would be an imbalance Source itself would regress into destruction rather than knowledge of Self. In this sense, all are equal but Nature’s infinite expressions (insect, plant, tree, animal, human, ocean, mountain, planet, galaxy, dimension) as a total is Divine. Within that (overly expansive to the point of being all inclusive!) confinement we are free to practice as monotheists (belief in one God) or polytheists (belief in many Gods at one time) and if it’s the latter our choice of pantheon (set of Gods attributed to a certain religion eg Grecian, Hindu etc) is entirely our choice and not restricted to one, it can be mixed up as preferred. The reason for this is that druidry is essentially not a religion; it is a spiritual path with the intention of developing the individual who, in turn, lends him/herself as a greater constituent asset to Nature as a whole. (It is worthy of note at this juncture that although many pantheons are used across the world, the most studied, believed and prolific is the Welsh pantheon of Arthurian legend/myth).
Druids have a steadfast belief (derived from direct experience) of the Otherworld. The Otherworld is the place we were born from, we go to when we die, we visit during trance and dream state and also palpably sense around us at all times. When we die we have a life in the Otherworld before we are born back into this one. This is replicated daily/nightly in the twin states of consciousness and sleep and forms the microscopic version of “as above, so below” denoting that the cycle of birth and death over a longer lifetime duration is merely the bigger brother of daily journeying. The Otherworld exists interwoven with this one and is explained by many New Age teachings as a multi dimensional reality. This is one and the same, which is why so many of us have odd experiences that our taught rules cannot explain. We are interacting with the Otherworld whilst allowing our logic and reason to deny the possibility that what just happened...happened! To a druid both worlds are one and the same and totally experiential.
More to follow...
