A chairde, Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir! Greetings everybody and a Happy New Year to you all!
I am writing this review a little later than usual, and so you will see an account of two Winter Gatherings. In 2024, we began with two fringe events on the Friday: the Meet and Greet in the Avalon Club, for first-timers and those travelling alone, was facilitated by Carol and Terri. Our Open Mic was hosted by Marcus Bollonius and was well attended. The theme for our Winter Gathering 2024 was Draíocht: Druidry & Magic. There were wonderful presentations from Daniel McKenzie: “Conjuring Demons, Angels and Intelligences – a Druid’s approach to Magic”; Michael Wall: “Stars and Stones: myth, legend and the magicians”; Mhara Starling: “Witchcraft and Druidry: Incompatible Pathways, or Harmonious Pair?” These talks can be heard on DruidCast. The Mistletoe Ceremony, which is one of my favourite ceremonies, was beautifully held by Adrian and JJ. Sadly, after about 25 years of serving the Order so well due to health problems, this was their last time. Our magical Winter Ceremony began as we processed in daylight to the grounds outside Strode Theatre and returned in the dark. Gary Llewellyn was our master of Ceremonies for the Eisteddfod. He did a great job of combining humour, story and organisation.
We had two Druid Gorseddau in the UK this year, one in Cornwall in March and the other in Malvern in April. These were very well attended. Gorseddau will be held again in 2026. Dates for 2026 are: Kernow Druid Gorsedd – March 6-8; Malvern Druid Gorsedd – April 10-11. Contact druidgorsedds@obod.org for further information.
Druid Gorseddau were also held in Germany and the Netherlands.
The Bardic Gorsedd was held in July in the wonderful Noddfa (meaning Sanctuary), Penmaenmawr in Wales. Dates for 2026: July 24-26. Contact email is bardicgorsedds|@obod.org
It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Marjolein Van Noordende. Marjolein was the co-ordinator of OBOD Netherlands. She will be greatly missed. Her role has been passed on to the capable hands of Carola van ’t Hof.
The Druid Hearth and its capabilities continue to be developed. The phone app was launched this year, making the Hearth more accessible to members. We now have 90 circles, with a wide range of interests covering everything from Ancestors to Veganism, as well as 54 Circles for Seed Groups and Groves. Some Circles have regular meetings via Zoom for discussion, meditation, healing, storytelling and much more. There is a PDF list of all Circles which can be downloaded from the Circles Homepage (http://hearth.druidry.org/circles/)
I would like to introduce Inês Nobre our new SM Manager who started at Alban Elfed. The Order has accounts on IG FB Threads, X. There is a Member Contribution Portal where members can upload their photos and videos of their activities for SM. They are invited to write a short description about their photos and videos https://hearth.druidry.org/member-contributions. If they want to share a long text to be shared on SM, they can create a Google Doc and share a public link in the description box.
Although the Order does not have affiliations with other organisations, we do liaise with organisations with shared values. We were invited to attend an Interfaith gathering in May at the Asha Centre in Gloucester. Matt McCabe attended, representing Druidry. I later visited the centre with Adrian Rooke. There is a grove of trees which was planted several years ago by members of the Order. It is a beautiful venue in the Forest of Dean for retreats and workshops. https://ashacentre.org
Liz Cruise attended the National Emergency Briefing on Climate and Nature in November, hosted by Faith for the Climate – www.faithfortheclimate.org.uk. An account of the event will appear in a future edition of Touchstone.
Leonore Newsome was invited to represent the Pagan community at the Lord Mayor’s Carol Service in Plymouth in December. The Druid Network, which has many OBOD members, is now represented, for the first time, on the board of Interfaith Scotland. An interesting fact from the Scottish census 2022 is that paganism is now the fourth largest religious group in Scotland.
Stephen Barnes has agreed to represent the Order following an invitation to attend a meeting of the Pagan Police Association, which wishes to liaise with community groups.
The Summer Gathering began with the Meet and Greet in the Avalon Club, hosted by Belinda Twigg and the Dartmoor and South Devon Grove. The Open Mic in the Assembly Rooms, facilitated by Marcu Bollonius, proved very popular with about thirty members offering to perform. We held our ceremonies simultaneously on the Tor and in the grounds of Strode Theatre, and each group chanted the Awen while facing the other. Daniel McKenzie presented the Banner to honour members who have passed. A big thanks to artist member Josh Warren, who made this beautiful banner. We had an opportunity to write the names on the banner. The Eisteddfod, as always, showcased the amazing talents of our members. The Oak Ceremony was held by Adrian Rooke, Heather and Jim Ramsay.
On Sunday morning, Damh announced that he was stepping down as Pendragon and that Matt McCabe was taking over the role. While I was sad that Damh stepped down as we have had a great working relationship for the last five years, and at the same time, I am delighted to have Matt as my Pendragon. The theme of our Sunday morning session was Exploring the Inner Landscape of the Soul, where we had a meditation to bring the light of the sun down into the centre of our Groves, as the Altar of our Heart, followed by presentations by Tom Moxon, Marion Sibbons and Fi Ware. We had breakout groups where we explored and discussed what we discovered on the Altar of our Heart, and how we could symbolise this. Participants were invited to draw a representation of this symbol on paper. Each breakout group processed onto the stage in the auditorium and placed their symbol in a cauldron, which was blessed. We chanted Awen, honouring where we were and the Imbas to honour the land where those symbols would be taken. I brought them back to Ireland with me, and I placed them to be ritually burned in my Solstice fire in my Grove. It was filmed, and the video is now on the Hearth.
The Wheel of the Year online ceremonies were created during the Pandemic to support our members; they continued beyond the pandemic to support solitary members and those who could not attend a physical ceremony. With the arrival of the Hearth and the potential there for members to connect, we decided to discontinue the online ceremonies. The Order has always fostered independence and agency among the members to create their own Seed groups and Groves. We now encourage our members to reach out to each other and create virtual Seed groups and Groves so that they can hold their own virtual ceremonies in private, as our members who are in physical Seed groups and Groves do.
Tea with a Druid continues on Monday nights at 8pm UK, and Philip also hosts Biscuits with Druids on the Hearth afterwards. From time to time, the Teas and Biscuits are hosted by Penny. Fireside Chats with Eimear are broadcast on Thursday nights at 8pm. The Storytelling Around the Hearth is held once a month. This is a space for members to tell stories and improve their skills in a safe environment. Listeners are also very welcome. Druidcast is now on episode 220. If you haven’t been able to watch them live, recordings of the Teas, Chats and DruidCast can be found on the Order’s OBOD YouTube channel and on the Hearth.
Andrew Anderson hosts Touchstone Unbound on the Hearth on the first Friday of the Month, where the latest editions of Touchstone are discussed, and he interviews a member about their contributions.
I attended a number of Camps during the year. On the Bealtaine weekend, I went to Italian Camp Ca’Gitana, near Fabriana, hosted by member Diana Birch on her beautiful land. In June, I went to Canada, where I attended the OBOD camp, hosted by the Chinook Hills Grove, Calgary. This was my first visit to Canada. The camp, whose theme was Finding your Story, was held on a small farm near Red Deer owned by members Janina & John, with Icelandic chickens, Soay sheep, trout in the lake, nearby beavers and coyotes. I got to visit Banff in the Rockies. The scenery was magnificent – snow-capped mountains, tall trees, beautiful blue-green lakes and rivers. My trip ended with the Calgary Stampede, which was an amazing experience to see the rodeo and to watch the skilled First Nations People racing horses bareback.
We were invited to take part and have an OBOD banner in the Bealtaine Festival at Uisneach, the sacred centre of Ireland. Adrian Rook, Matt McCabe, Arthur Billington, Pete Ball (Bodger) and JJ Middleway joined me from the UK. There were many OBOD members there. A big thanks to Marcella Dillon-Walshe for making the Banner at such short notice. In October, I went to Italy for the OBOD camp in Molise. The theme was Awen/Imbas and the Green Man. Adrian Rooke was to join me, but unfortunately, for health reasons, he could not travel. Thanks to Zoom, however, he was able to give an online presentation on the Green Man.
Members activities:
Our members remain very active, and we like to hear about innovations and new developments.
Building Resilience for Hard Times has had a name change. It is now the ‘Deep Listening Circle- Nurturing Compassion in Difficult Times’, and we meet on the first Wednesday of the Month. The Death Café continues to be hosted by John King and is held on the third Wednesday of the month. The Mental Health Group meets on the third Tuesday of the month. Each of these groups has a Circle on the Hearth, and the links for the meetings are to be found there.
OBOD Inner Journeying and Ritual Weekends with Penny, Matt & Gary will be held again in 2026. The dates are as follows: Level 1, April 25-26; Level 2, October 10-11; Level 3, February 29-March 1. To book, contact mattmccabe.1@outlook.com. Matt had been holding these weekends in Germany, and now he has handed them over to Anna Oakflower and Barnhard Höfer.
The Community Cloak is still travelling around the world, weaving its story, and it comes back to the Strode Theatre for the Summer and Winter Gatherings, where members are invited to add their own creative stitches.
There were three camps held in the USA. The East Coast Gathering (ECG) is the oldest of Druid Camps in the USA. It was renamed back to its original name (it was DOOR for a few years) and returned to its old venue in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. Kristoffer Hughes was among the guest speakers. He spoke about Arianrhod and also about The Biology of Belief. The Gulf Coast Gathering was held in March in Baton Rouge, New Orleans. MAGUS Camp, which is run by OBOD and AODA members, was held in West Virginia. The theme was Astrology.
Welt der Linden are organising a large gathering: The Weaving: a Gathering of Druid Magic in Herbstein, Fulda, Germany, July 22-25, 2027. This will be the first European gathering of this scale, and members from all over the world are encouraged to attend. It will be held in various languages. For more information, contact weaving@obod.org
The theme for our Winter Gathering 2025 was Death and Dying Process within Druidry, where we had two presentations from Kristoffer Hughes: To Come Back to the Trees: The Intersectionality of Death, Ecology & Western Mortuary Rituals; and Jenny Uzzell: Ancestors of the Past; Ancestors of the Future: Community, Relationality and Creativity in Druid Death Ways. Recordings of these talks will be available on Druidcast.
We had our Ceremony Handing over of the Sword from Damh to Matt. All those present enthusiastically affirmed Matt as our new Pendragon. Matt performed his first role as Pendragon at the beginning of the Mistletoe Ceremony, which was held by Heather and Jim. It was very moving when Adrian and JJ came on at the end and led us in a beautiful Winter Solstice chant: Green of leaf and berry white,
Oak and thorn and apple branch.
Neath the moon on winter’s night
With sickle blade the Druids dance.
All Heal, All Heal, All Heal, All Heal.
Our Winter ceremony was held in the grounds of Strode Theatre. It was so magical when we were invited to place t-lights in the centre of the circle. The Eisteddfod started off with a Pop-up Audience facilitated by Penny Billington & Blanche Rowan, where we sang a round: Hey ho darker grow the days,
And the wind blows rain across the land.
See the leaves a falling,
Hear the Spirits calling…
Adrian & JJ have retired from holding the Mistletoe and Oak Ceremonies, and they were both conferred with the title of Honorary Bard of the Order in recognition of their creativity and service to the Order after over 25 years. Inês, our new SM manager, held vox pops throughout the day where members spoke about what Druidry means to them. These clips will be shared on SM.
A big thanks to Jon Nash and Kaa for hosting the Meet and Greet and to Susan Paramour for hosting the Open Mic. On the Sunday morning, we had our Ceremony to Bless the Banner to Honour our Dead, which was held so beautifully by Daniel McKenzie, Marcella Dillon-Walsh and Kaa. We were invited to meditate on those members who have died, and as they were named, a candle of remembrance was lit for them. It was very moving when members stood in acknowledgement when the names were read out. What a wonderful way to honour our ancestors. We will continue to have this ceremony at our Winter Gatherings. During the ceremony, I was reflecting that our names will one day be on the Banner, and that we will be remembered by the living – a very comforting thought. There was a very strong feeling of connection, community and love after the Gathering and this was created by all who attended. May this connection continue to grow and evolve, bringing us closer, truly honouring diversity in all its forms, to listen to our words and to the words of others with open hearts and minds. Again, I would like to thank all our members who give so generously of their time, skills and commitment in service to the Order.
We had two Mt Haemus awards this year, and these went to Pat Booker: The Fifth Province: Myth and Metaphor in Twentieth Century Ireland and Dr. Rosalind Watts: Participant Experience of Learning from Tree Teachers in the ACER Integration Community. They can be found on our website www.druidry.org
Each year members and friends contribute wonderful books on Druidry and related topics and this year is no exception. I hope I have not left anyone out. If I have, please let me know.
Arianrhod: Celtic Goddess of Fate, Fortune and Destiny by Kristoffer Hughes
The Green City Witch: Weaving a Magical Life in Urban Spaces by Lynn Shore
Ancestral Oak: Roots of the Past, Branches to the Future by Yannick Dubois
The Unseen Made Seen Poetry Collection by Barry Patterson
Psychopomps and the Soul: Traversing Death and Life for Healing and Wholeness by Tiffany Lazic
To Grief with Love: A Lyrical and Pictorial Voyage Through Loss by Zoe Strickland
The Weave of Stone and Light: Alchemy, Consciousness and the Sacred Landscape by Siri Lagerløv
Coming Back to my Trees: A Druid’s Self-Healing Pilgrimage of Heritage and Homecoming by Deborah Rose Halani
Tarot Therapy Workbook by Steve Hounsome
Keeper of Stones by Ger Moane
Druidismo Oceanico: Il Canto Oceanico Il Soffio degli Abissi by Luana Sanvidotto
The Long Man & Friends: Sacred Sussex by Philip Carr-Gomm & David Bramwell
As we head into 2026 amidst the growing chaos in the world, may our Druidic practices and values keep us grounded and centred. May we feel the protection of the trees around us, and may we remain connected in community and in awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings.
Ní neart go cur le chéile – strength in unity!
Beannachtaí agus Síocháin (Blessings and Peace)