Druidism

Origin and history

The Celts were Indo-European peoples that occupied much of Europe between 800 BC and 100 AD: from present-day Ireland, Scotland and Wales to Galicia and Asturias in Spain, France (Gaul), northern Italy, the Balkans and even Galatia in present-day Turkey. The druids were their spiritual elite — described by Caesar in his De Bello Gallico, by Pliny and other Greco-Roman classical sources.

The druids did NOT use writing for their sacred teaching (only oral, transmitted through up to 20 years of training). After the Roman conquest of Gaul (1st century BC) and Britannia (1st century AD), Roman repression destroyed the tradition. In Ireland, where Rome did not arrive, druidism survived more intact until Christianisation (5th-6th centuries AD), when it gradually mixed and disappeared. The current druidic reconstructive movement arose from the 18th century in Britain and gained strength in the 20th century.

Beliefs and practices

Celtic druidism venerated nature as sacred: forests, sources, rocks, animals, the sun, the moon. Sacred trees were special (the oak above all — the very word "druid" possibly comes from the Celtic root dru-wid: "wisdom of the oak"; also yew for immortality, hazel for poetic inspiration, apple tree for paradise of the otherworld, hawthorn for the threshold). Celebrated the 8 stations of the year that today modern Wicca celebrates: Samhain (Halloween), Yule (winter solstice), Imbolc, Ostara (spring equinox), Beltane (1 May), Litha (summer solstice), Lammas, Mabon (autumn equinox).

Their cosmology believed in three worlds: the upper world of the gods (sky), the middle world of humans (earth), and the lower world of the ancestors (underworld). Believed in reincarnation — Caesar reports that fearless warriors fought because they expected to be reborn. Their oghamic alphabet of inscriptions was used divinatorily (ogham divination, on sticks of trees). Modern druids practise: outdoor rituals, sacred trees ceremonies, seasonal celebrations, ogham divination, reverence for the lineage of Celtic ancestors.

Living druidism today

There are several modern druidic orders (OBOD — Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids; ADF — Ár nDraíocht Féin; AODA — Ancient Order of Druids in America; and many more). Some are more ceremonial, others more individualist. The basic practice is accessible to anyone: cultivate respect and reverence for nature, celebrate the 8 stations of the year, learn the sacred trees of your region, walk consciously in forests, listen to nature with reverence. It is not necessary to belong to a formal order to live the druidic spirit.