Modern Druidry

A few years ago, while I was working my way through the Bardic grade, I had an interesting experience while meditating. I have had a meditation practice for many years, long before I started with OBOD, and I have largely trained in the Chinese Daoist style of meditation, and use seated, standing, and active meditation…

Is their any such person as a Hindu Druid? A question for which the answer no doubt to most people would be a negative, is it possible to be a member of a religion that reveres many Deities and also follow an Earth based Spirituality and way of life at the same time? To my…

It is not well known amongst those interested in Celtic Spirituality that the modern interpretation of the Irish Ogham alphabet is largely based on the ideas of Robert Graves, following the publication of his magnum opus The White Goddess…

As an autistic person, I fancy that I, too, know a bit about ego-dying: when faced with an excess of stimulus and stressors, my brain at a certain point simply stops obeying my will. I experience what is known as an autistic meltdown.

Talk given by Caitlin Matthews at the OBOD 50th Anniversary – 7th June 2014…

Here we are. Here she is! Autumn. All browns and auburns and yellows and golds. Wading in with her low sun, cooler mornings and shorter days. Equal day and equal night. As perfect a balance as the universe can offer. Waving goodbye to summer, equinox is a beautiful time for harvesting as we turn towards…

In Druidry, we learn often hear the word, awen, being used, but what exactly is awen? Loosely translated from Welsh, it means flowing spirit, or flowing inspiration. Awake to our own energy, and stretching out towards the energy of nature around us, we begin to see just what awen is…

Awen is chanted out loud or intoned silently within the soul, and is made up of three sounds: Ah-oo-en. The Ah sound opens you to life, evokes joy and purpose, radiates power and creativity. The oo sound expands, continues, and disseminates the energy and power you have opened to, allowing it to blossom. The enn…

Have you ever felt that you just don’t have the time to practise the Druidry that you want to? Wouldn’t you like to be out in the woods meditating for hours, getting in tune with spirit and nature but the reality is a nine to five job in a town or city?

Awen is a complicated concept and hard to understand. Teaching its meaning is often not clear and imprecise. Okay, I started like that last time. But it’s true…

For a Couple or can be adapted as a Solo Ritual

A blog post about whether to call yourself “Druid” or not has been brewing in my mind for weeks – when do we think we can claim the title?

Many people get confused in the west thinking that enlightenment is ‘an eastern thing’ but when we come to take a closer look we realise that this is not the case at all.

by Helen Graham ~  Celtic Reconstuctionism: this is the attempt to use archaeological data, records of the time and known history in order to reconstruct ancient Celtic beliefs and practices, to be followed as a religion or spirituality today. This practitioner wishes to resurrect ancient Celtic religion. Celtic Revivalism: this is an attempt to practise…

Druid ritual in many traditions usually begins with what is known as The Call for Peace.  It is an affirmation that there is peace between everyone involved and an aspiration that there be peace throughout the length and breadth of the world…

Druidry is a spiritual tradition that takes its ethics from the inspiration available in the natural world around us. It does not only listen to the language of humans, but also those of the trees and wind, the pack and the herd, the moss and the fungi. It looks to the wider web of interconnectedness…

On radical Druidry: Stukeley was (at first) a pagan Neoplatonist who disapproved of the intolerance of Christianity; Iolo a pacificist and republican, who was regarded as dangerous by the government and held a Gorsedd of Bards that was broken up by mounted militiamen; William Price a revolutionary who plotted to overthrow the state by an…

What does it mean to be a Druid in this modern day and age? Being a Druid today does not mean trying to live in the same manner as our Celtic ancestors did in this land…

by Harriet Sams ~  What is ecotherapy and what role could it play in Druidry? Ecotherapy branches from ecopsychology and originally comes from a Buddhist approach to the therapeutic practice of nature-based psychology. It uses the concept of ‘other-centred therapy’, a concept that encourages the client to view the world from an understanding that they…

Dear Friends on the Druid Path:Quite appropriately, I celebrated the first Imbolc of the Ovate grade while I was massively pregnant with my daughter. I remember lighting candles on a cold, silent night, creating a small circle of firelight, and thinking, ‘Obviously I’m not doing any part of this on the floor.’ I gave thanks…

by Elizabeth Cruse When Chris Park announced at morning meeting that there would be a sweat lodge that night I thought well that sounds alright. Saunter down the field a little way just before dark, maybe even only as far as the sauna and shower, take my clothes off and get toastie warm while having…