Journal Entries
The Pagan fear of religion.
Posted Feb 21, 2009
Why do so many pagans fear calling what they do 'a religion'? I have spent years now discussing paganism in general, and brythonic druidry in particular, with people on fora and blogs, as well as face to face. I have listened to those considered wise, read the interminable tomes of published authors, and watched ordinary and celebrity pagans lead workshops and rituals.
In all this there seems to be a real aversion to calling druidry a religion. I've been told it is a spiritual philosophy, a spiritual path, a natural philosophy, a journey and a way. In fact anything but a religion.
The leaders of druid groves and orders call themselves priests, priestesses and druids (which is just another word for 'priest when all is said and done). However, when you point out that a 'priest' is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED):
1. an ordained minister of the Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican Church, authorized to perform certain ceremonies, or
2. a person who performs ceremonies in a non-Christian religion.
they recoil in horror. The word 'religion' gets them again.
So let's look at this terrifying word shall we. Again according to the OED:
Religion
• noun
1. the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods,
2. a particular system of faith and worship, or
3. a pursuit or interest followed with devotion.
Hmm... this is odd, because that sounds pretty much what most druids of my acquaintance believe in and do, and when you add the second definition of 'priest' that seems fine too.
Perhaps it is the term 'worship' they don't like? I've certainly heard a lot of druids saying they work with their gods, the revere them, but not worship them. Out comes the OED again:
Worship
• noun
1 the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity,
2 religious rites and ceremonies, or
3 great admiration or devotion.
• verb (worshipped, worshipping)
1 show reverence and adoration for (a deity), or
2 feel great admiration or devotion for.
Derivatives: worshipper noun.
Origin: Old English, worthiness, acknowledgement of worth.
Can you see anything wrong with 'worship', because I can't?
I suspect that the main problem is not where these druids are now, but where they came from. Like myself many came from families that were ostensibly Christian. In my case strong Roman Catholics. It is from this unbending Christian dogma that most of these pagans got their understanding of the word 'religion'. Religion in this case has a set doctrine and a holy hierarchy that allows no personal interpretation nor even really a personal relationship to the godhead.
Many people have rebelled against this upbringing and its restrictions, and a fair number of those rebels, those who still felt there was a spiritual component to their make-up, drifted or fled into paganism. The problem here is that much of modern paganism grew out of the anarchic spiritual and hippy movements of the sixties and seventies.
This was paralleled by a change in Britain from the post war extended-family and community-orientated social structure (reinforced by common religious and social values) to one where personal freedom was the single most important factor. As a result spiritualities and authors that have promised that everyone can have a personal prelature, an intimate and unfettered relationship with the godhead, have flourished.
Unfortunately most of these promises were false or built on sand. Disappointment is a constant companion to pagan spiritual exploration. People are beginning to understand that you can't get everything out of a book or by attending a couple of workshops. The present leadership of the druid community seem as lost as those that look to them.
One path forwards would seem to be to re-examine the pre-Christian British native religions and see if these can be restored in away that meets the needs of life in the 21st century C.E. This is the path I am pursuing at this time, along with many other good people. We are not afraid of the words 'religion', nor 'doctrine', nor 'worship'. We believe that our relationship to our gods can be individual but that it can also be strenghtened in understanding and depth by working as a like-minded community.
Quite a step for an old feral polytheist like me, but when you consider the alternative, possibly a better one.
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Latest reply: Feb 21, 2009
Do Something About It!
Posted Feb 17, 2009
Hi everyone,
I've just signed DoSomethingAboutIt.org.uk's petition for a British 'New Deal': calling on government to supplement the banking bail-out with a stimulus package for other areas of the economy, which will create jobs now and lay the foundations for a greener, fairer society.
We need to send a clear message to politicians, telling them that they cannot spend billions rescuing the richest without investing in the rest of us. Britain cannot go back to the pre-crisis status quo, with its growing inequalities and its dependence on the financial sector- we have to move forward to a socially and environmentally sustainable future.
You can sign the petition by visiting www.dosomethingaboutit.org.uk. But act fast- the petition will close on 2 March.
Cheers,
Matholwch .
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Feb 17, 2009
So you want to be a druid eh?
Posted Feb 12, 2009
One of the questions I often ask those nice people I meet at camps, festivals, groves and on-line is 'what are you?'. I get a wide range of replies as you might expect, but one I am hearing more often is 'I am (a) druid'. I then tend to examine the claimant with more interest, wait a few long heartbeats and then venture my second question, 'why do you call yourself (a) druid?'.
Confusion usually ensues as the nice person footles around for one of the standard replies:
1. I completed/am doing the OBOD/Albion Conclave/ADF/some other course.
2. I am a member of OBOD/TDN/BDO/ADF/such and such a grove.
3. I have read a lot of books by, attended seminars by, listened to, or met Emma Restall Orr/Philip Shallcrass/Philip Carr-Gomm/Ronald Hutton(?)/Isaac Bonewitz/Ross Nichols/some other geezer.
4. I have attended a camp (or camps).
5. I go to the open rituals at Stonehenge/Avebury/any other henge.
Only once I have heard the reply "I am a priestess to a community of other like minded souls. I lead the grove in celebrations, weddings, namings and partings. I visit the sick and the lonely, counsel the bereaved and the sad, campaign on issues important to my community, and grow herbs and vegetables on my allotment which I contribute to a box scheme. I also teach those interested in knowing more about druidry, including doing sessions for the local high school RE programme."
This person was a druid, a priestess of a community and contributor to the lives of many for no expected reward. She served her community willingly and tried to exemplify the teachings of her gods by her actions. As far as I know she does so still.
If we are to rebuild the concept of druidry for the modern age we must begin to understand that being a druid is a lifelong commitment to service of your community, not a badge, nor a label, nor a reward for completing a course, nor even a hierarchical position in an order.
The problem really lies in semantics. When the founding fathers and mothers of modern druidry began to reassemble the British native religions from the scraps left by classical scholars, the understandably incomplete analysis of archaeologists and the freemason-inspired tampering of the 18th and 19th century celticists, they needed a name that would immediately bring to mind what they were aiming at. 'Druid' and 'Druidry' fitted that requirement.
We are now nearly half a century on from that rebirth. It is time to begin to reclaim the name 'druid' and place it in its real context. I am not a druid and neither, I suspect, are you. We are probably not ready to take on such a huge responsibility in our communities. Indeed very few people in the British native religious community are - I can think of only two or three off the top of my head.
If we do need a label then I would put forward British Native Religions as a starter - anyone else got a better one? I would genuinely like to hear of a more apt or poetic name - though anything related to Arthur will get binned automatically.
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Latest reply: Feb 12, 2009
Embrace your inner atheist
Posted Feb 9, 2009
Doubt is good.
For all of you out there who half the time think that they are blessed, and the other half wonder if they are mad, I'll say that again - doubt is good.
After all consider the alternative - faith.
Faith is what the monotheistic, middle-eastern cults such as christianity demand of their followers. Belief is insufficient for their doctrine, you must go that extra step and have faith, where 'faith' is a blind, unquestioning belief in things that are hard to swallow or that you just do not understand. The key word here is 'unquestioning' because, when you have body of scripture that is as full of holes and contradictions as the christians have, you need faith just to get out of bed in the morning.
An established church or temple requires a large number of followers to support it and its hierarchy. The money has to come from somewhere. If you have a situation where people are allowed to question the central doctrines of the church or temple then you have anarchy (or, as they like to put it, 'heresy'). So faith is in, and doubt is banished.
As druids though we must welcome doubt and embrace our inner atheist. We are supposed to be natural philosophers after all, seekers of truth about the cosmos and all within it. You cannot be a seeker without doubt, without questions and without the capability for heresy.
Doubt drives us to seek truth, to question that which we do not understand, and to be willing to listen to our gods, the spirits of the land and our ancestors.
Faith leads to blind belief, to ignorance and thus to stagnation.
Doubt leads to enquiry, to understanding and thus to growth.
Doubt is good.
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Latest reply: Feb 9, 2009
The Naked Pagan
Posted Feb 5, 2009
One of the things that makes me chortle when I attend various pagan rituals up and down the country is the lengths that some people go to to achieve a sense of 'authenticity'. Whether they do this for themselves or for their audiences is pretty irrelevant, for it is obvious that they feel that having the right tools and clothing adds a certain 'je ne sais quoi' to the proceedings.
I have spoken frequently to people who surround themselves with thuribles, athames, staves, wands, crystals, robes and other regalia about this. I have also debated it at length online in [oftimes heated] debates with people who feel I am trying to pull the rug out from under their entire belief system. In all of this I have found just two main reasons why people bother with this paraphernalia:
1. It puts the 'in the right mood' to do it,
2. There is some ancient text which says this is the right way to do it.
And by 'to do it' I mean commune with their god/gods.
Well, although I have no problem with the first argument - whatever floats your boat really - the latter gets my goat.
People have used foci since time immemorable to help detach themselves from the real world and enter that state that allows them to commune or journey. The more advanced thinkers and dreamers have found that often less is more. That having lots of paraphernalia actually is actually quite distracting.
From experience I can tell you that the Gods don't give a fig if you call to them dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, or an elaborate robe and wolfskin cap. This opinion is based upon discussions with a considerable number of what are becoming known as 'ferals'. None of these need staves and athames and incense to make their connection with their gods, simply a little peace and quiet. As none of these people consider themselves special or particularly wise or skilled how come they can do it yet the robed majority cannot?
Maybe it is down to the claim that ancient texts say so? Well I cannot speak for Wicca or Heathenry, but the only ancient texts relating to druids were written by observers, not all of whom were favourably disposed to them. In one of these some druids in Gaul were described as wearing white robes and using a golden sickle for one speicifc ritual (the cutting of the mistletoe). By many modern druids, from the more 'traditional' orders, this is taken as gospel and so they turn up to every event in voluminous white robes and weighed down with as much 'celtic' jewellery as they can bear. As a result they are rather deprecatingly known as 'the bedsheet brigade'.
It amuses me that such scholarly men and women should accept the writings of a Roman scholar as doctrine. Surely they have enough theological knowledge to recognise that it makes absolutely no difference to their relationship to the divine. After all has a Catholic Priest in all his magnificence any more claim to a knowledge of the Christian God than a plain-dressed Quaker? I think not.
Another thing that amuses me is that in just about every world religion it is only the priests who wear special clothes and carry all the special kit and caboodle. In modern druidry everyone turns up in this, making each ritual or ceremony look like a pagan general synod or conclave of cardinals. Could anything look more ridiculous?
One of the sources of this confusion may well lie in the small industry that has sprung up in the last twenty years to supply the pagan community with all this junk. Whereas finding a tome on modern paganism was rare in my youth, bookshops are now creaking under the weight of them (never mind all the online specialist outlets). Each tries to differentiate their message in order to maximise sales (and if the author didn't intend to do this the publisher will do their best to).
You now see shops in every major town selling all sorts of tat for the would be pagan claiming that it will enhance their experience of the divine. They breed a sort of aspirational eclecticism where what you have seems more important than what you do. How many pagans do you know with native american dream catchers hanging over an altar covered in hindu incense burners, wiccan athames, pacific cowrie shells, 'celtic' jewellery hanging off a brass statuette of Ganesh, prayer beads, qabbalistic tarot cards etc., etc.?
When we get down to it all our gods really want is for us to sit down, shut up for a minute and listen. Unless a comfy cushion and a gag are on your list of ritual apparatus then everything else is just window dressing. Try being a naked pagan for a change, you might find it enlightening...
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: Feb 5, 2009
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