by Jonathan Laszlo Mark ~
My interest in Druidry lies in the spiritual relationship between Druids and plants, with a focus on the influence that this spirituality has on their home gardens. Over the course of two months, ten Druids’ home gardens were visited. Plant inventories were recorded to look for possible key plants, while interviews focused on the influence of their spirituality and the relationship each informant had with their gardens. The classic image of Druids in western media is that of the wise old man separated from society, but the informants that I met with challenge this image. From my garden inventories, a number of key plants were found to be revered as spiritually significant to Druidry, with plant lore from Druidic literature supporting these selections. From the time spent with my informants, there became a clear support to the notion that Druidry has an influence on garden plant selection and feelings toward those plants. I found what I describe as a cyclical relationship between Druidry and environmentalism, and my research may serve as a solid case study for spiritual ecology and the interplay between spirit and nature…To read the entire dissertation click on the PDF here and in Temples in the Backyard: Druid Home Gardens and the Spiritual Relationship with Plants Part Two, here in the OBOD Library.
