h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Pattern-chaser .

Time for a little honsety methinks.....

There was an antiquarian in the 18th century who called himself 'Iolo Morgannwg'. He is often quoted as the chap who led the revival of druidry. Unfortunately he was very enthusiatic, and where he couldn't find any sources to support his theories on druidry, he did indeed make it up.

There are still many in druidry who use some of his invented rituals and systems. Some do this because they haven't yet learnt to divide what is known from what is assumed. Others because they believe that some of what he 'invented' was inspired by the spirits of his ancestors. The most regularly used of his 'inventions' is the Universal Druid Prayer.

You will find that those that wish to dismiss modern druidry as the product of 'Victorian Sentimentalism' find a useful 'proof' in poor old Morgannwg. In fact such a dismissal says far more about the level of their scholarship than the origins of modern druidry .

Blessings,
Matholwch the Apostate /|\.

It wasn't so much what the Victorians did that interests me, as whether or not there is an unbroken tradition of druidism here, since Olde Tymes. [I speak in a common-sense way, not an *objective* scientific way.] Is there a real connection, however tenuous, between you and the druids of Roman times (and before)?

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Hi Pattern-chaser .

Good question.

One of the aspects of being druid is a high regard for the truth. If you are asking me to produce some ancient crumbly parchment with all the ideals of druidry on then I cannot do that.

Is there an unbroken familial line to that olde tyme religion? Well some claim there is through their families but the jury is still out on that. The limited amount of historical data would suggest there is, however, the 2,000 years of 'benign' Christian rule have made such data very rare and the keepers of it understandably nervous. Add to that the very natue of druidic knowledge, in that it is oral by tradition and necessity, and we would have real problems proving it in a court of law.

I often think of the druids of 1,500 years ago becoming the book-rememberers of the novel by Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451.

The best connection that we of the druid path claim to know of is through our relationships with our gods and the spirits of both the land and our ancestors. Unfortunately metaphysical knowledge doesn't hold up to the careful examination of psychiatrists and sociologists, and even less so to the archaeological community.

I'm sorry that I cannot produce more convincing evidence than that. An american chap called Isaac Bonewitz has some extensive research on his site, as have both the British Druid Order and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.

Blessings,
Matholwch the Apostate /|\.