Core Values of Druidry

[Sencha]

The 'Archdruid for the 21st Century' thread brought up an interesting subject. Are there core values that ALL Druids have in common? How could you look at this group or that group and say 'This is Druid' or 'This isn't Druid'? For example, certain Celtic schools of Wicca have many similarities with Druidry, but they're not Druids. We like to say that there is no definition for Druidry, but there must be some framework.
Any ideas?

[Arth Frown]

I doubt that you will find core values that all druids have in common. It might be easier look at it as what most of you have in common.

I must admit I doubt it will come to a conclusion.

[DJ Droood]

I think there are core values most people in general hold...don't murder, for instance...(most of the 10 Commandments, + the Golden Rule)

But what are the core "druidic" values? Things that are unique, and justify having a separate label...(I can't believe it's not butter!)

[DJ Droood]

Revering the sun?

It seems to me that the majority of druids are sun "worshipers" (I use the term loosely) in some form or another, and it is more focused than in other pagan denominations. Is reverence for the sun a key druidic value?

[DaRC]

I think the Ethics and Values page will answer this for OBOD and a significant number of Druids too
http://www.druidry.org/modules.php?op=m ... age_id=155

[Merlyn]

Beer!
A core value for druids

But more seriously...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid's_Prayer
Grant, O God, Thy protection;
And in protection, strength;
And in strength, understanding;
And in understanding, knowledge;
And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice;
And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it;
And in that love, the love of all existences;
And in the love of all existences, the love of God.
God and all goodness

Merlyn /|\

[Corwen]

I think the Ethics and Values page will answer this for OBOD and a significant number of Druids too
http://www.druidry.org/modules.php?op=m ... age_id=155

I think these are values most people could subscribe to, since its basically a list of virtues, I don't know if they capture the core of Druidry though. It is interesting to consider what the core values of Druidry itself mght be, but as Arth says probably ultimtely a pointless task since as anyone can call themselves a Druid there will always be an exception to the rule!

DJ, personally the Sun to me is a big ball of burning plasma, an important ball of plasma but just a ball of plasma, though I'd miss it if it weren't there (it would be cold...). More important to me is the life on this planet which seems a more complete reflection of Great Mystery, so my vote would be for something like 'reverence for life' to be the core value. Druidry to me is also focused on what might be called 'Spirit of Place', so a reverence for the land is also an important part of it. Perhaps I'd sum it up as Reverence for Life and the Land.

However as I get older and more depressed by the silliness and the self centredness of some Druidry (recently I've been most depressed by the spectacle of large numbers of people flying across a continent to go to Druidic meetings- how Druidic is that when we all know the harm flying does to the planet? ) I've been more and more reluctant to use the 'D Word'. Perhaps I am an ex-Druid, or possibly 'Post Druid' and so maybe I shouldn't comment on this issue at all!

Corwen, :having a spiritual identity crisis:

[DJ Droood]

DJ, personally the Sun to me is a big ball of burning plasma, an important ball of plasma but just a ball of plasma, though I'd miss it if it weren't there (it would be cold...). More important to me is the life on this planet which seems a more complete reflection of Great Mystery, so my vote would be for something like 'reverence for life' to be the core value. Druidry to me is also focused on what might be called 'Spirit of Place', so a reverence for the land is also an important part of it. Perhaps I'd sum it up as Reverence for Life and the Land.

yes....but "reverence for life" is fairly widely held, amongst most people, some sociopaths excepted...I think your "Spirit of Place" comes closer to a uniquely druidic virtue.

If I may hone my pitch for the sun a bit, yes, I don't over-anthropomorphiz (if that is even a word?) the sun either..I am good with it as a ball of gas....there is just something about a standing stone aligned with the sun (I know..pre-celtic), as a marker of time, that excites my sense of mystery, makes me feel connected with the ancestors (another important virtue to explore, imo), the land where the stone was raised, the sun, the earth, the passing of time, marking of cycles...maybe knowing when to plant or harvest...life is an earth dance with the sun

So for me, the sun is at the center of a druidic complex of ideas and images.

[DJ Droood]

:grin: Beer!
A core value for druids

conviviality/hospitality

[Sencha]

I've been thinking about this issue a great deal lately. Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Reverence for the Earth and all living things.
2. Respect for diversity and the rights of others.
3. Service to your home Grove, to the Order, and to the larger community.
4. Personal growth in spirit, mind, emotion, and body.

Does that about cover it, or does something need to be added/subtracted?

[Badger Bob]

I think that the main problem is that Druidry has different roots and so the branches bear different fruit. The main groups I can see as differing in outlook are:

The British Neo-Pagan orders - OBOD/BDO/TDN etc. who have their roots in the eighteenth century revival with neo-paganism added at a later stage. I'm including the AODA in this as they have a very British outlook.

The American Neo-Pagan orders - ADF and others who have a more authoritarian and organisational outlook, often drawing exclusively upon Irish sources rather than the pan-celtic sources of the British orders.

The reconstructionist groups - Brython, (Henge of Keltria?) and similar groups who reject the neo-pagan basis and seek to create a more archaeologically verifiable basis for paganism, differentiating between ancient and modern additions to the canon.

Add this to the myriad groups who have found their own niche in locally based Druidry and you have a bundle of twigs with no common root. The only unifying theme throughout these groups is a belief in the value of the pre-roman civilisation of Western Europe (Ireland, Britain, and Gaul).

[DJ Droood]

I've been thinking about this issue a great deal lately. Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Reverence for the Earth and all living things.
2. Respect for diversity and the rights of others.
3. Service to your home Grove, to the Order, and to the larger community.
4. Personal growth in spirit, mind, emotion, and body.

Does that about cover it, or does something need to be added/subtracted?

well..I *like* these values, and try to follow them, but with the exception of #3, I don't see them as particularly "druidic"....it could be the motto of a church sewing circle or something you have to sign at a court-ordered anger management class...not trying to diminish their importance, just that they seem very modern and generic. (which maybe is what druidry is at it's core.)

[DJ Droood]

I think that the main problem is that Druidry has different roots and so the branches bear different fruit.

"Druid" is a very evocative word, and it would be impossible for any one group to make a claim on it and try to "copyright" it, as it where.

Druid" lives a life outside those of us who use it to label our spirituality. In the public consciousness, it is first and formost a character in roleplaying games. Then, perhaps, it is Merlin, especially Nicol Williamson from Excaliber. Then, perhaps, it is the fellows who dress in white robes and attend Stonehenge every summer. And finally, for those who are tuned in, it *may* be Philip Carr-Gomm or perhaps John Micheal Greer (druid value #7...you must use three names) doing an interview.

The various bickering factions of modern spiritual druidry are really "also rans" in terms of brand recognition. Some don't even use the term, prefering some sort of impossible to pronounce Ancient Irish word, as it is more authentic. Every definition is exclusive in some way...it is a way to wrap an identity around a certain group (real or virtual), and delineate between the insiders and the outsiders.

[Merlyn]

I agree that using an airplane to go to druid gatherings is a bit "rich".
I hate airplanes anyway

The Druid identity thing, who what and why is a druid has led me to progress past all of this. I think it is safe to say that even in the UK there are more than a few druid ways.
Welsh is my own favorite, with a sad side of being forced to abandon even their own language at one point.

But such as things are, neo-druidism does seem like a flat beer.. just sits like a "not quite real" sort of term.
So I feel a new call, one that does not require a plane ride, one that really works and leaves all of the grandeur behind. I will always respect all forms of druidism. And much like any of the ways in spirituality I have explored, it will always remain as part of my foundation, a very good part. More and more we seem to be thinking and saying...what now?
Of all the things a druid should hold in value is a good sense of friendly humor. That dancing bard in all of us able to bring a smile has a wisdom. It is to step back and look at our-self. Get a grip, gain different perspective and if we cannot find a humorous side, it's a sign that perhaps we take things too seriously. It is one of many ways to look at everything, but an important way none-the-less.

The dragons call, and maybe I am a Drugon?
From the next bar stool,

Merlyn

[Badger Bob]

But such as things are, neo-druidism does seem like a flat beer..
Merlyn

I couldn't let this one pass so please forgive me...

The beer (ale) that the Druids of old would have drunk would have been as flat as a pancake and as murky as amazonian floodwater. Maybe good old unfined British ale is as good a metaphor as any for Druidry as a whole?

Normal service will be resumed now!

[DJ Droood]

Maybe good old unfined British ale is as good a metaphor as any for Druidry as a whole?

Served at room temperature, of course!

Kids today...they like their beer "cold, clear, crisp, "lite" and with no (after) taste."

[Merlyn]

Honey Mead, that's the stuff!

So real Druidry is flat stout
and Neo-druidry is ice cold lite beer

That explains a lot

Dragons like rye or just good Knob!
That's why they are known to breath fire
Merlyn

[DJ Droood]

Honey Mead, that's the stuff!

not to make it all about booze, but I will have to vote against mead...can't stand the stuff....my core value is rye or a nice, aged dark rum.

[Merlyn]

I think there are some core basic values exampled by things like the druid's prayer that do cross most if not all borders in the various kinds of druidism.
Mostly from the time of the druid revival era and those who came together at the time. Since then the druid tree has definitely grown into distinct branches. I see that as good, part of a natural progression. My dragons might be considered a twig

There are some common goals as well, shared across the branches, environmentalism as one example.
Some branches of druidism cross breed with other religions/pagan ways/masonry/in a more liberal sense.
Some are more main-line re-constructionist. Others still are isolated extremes.

Most however like beer!
There are those who have good reason to avoid beer, and being a purist druid is OK too.

Merlyn /|\

[Arth Frown]

I've been more and more reluctant to use the 'D Word'. Perhaps I am an ex-Druid, or possibly 'Post Druid' and so maybe I shouldn't comment on this issue at all!

Corwen, :having a spiritual identity crisis:

I stopped calling myself a druid a few years ago. I found it set me free and I didn't need to live up to such a grand title. Since then my paganism has got more 'godly'.