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Druid – the word rolls off the tongue, evocative, inspiring. It has etymological connotations with the words seer, wise, oak, knower, sorcerer, doorway and also the wren, just to name a few. Druidry is a religion, a spirituality that is ever changing, ever flowing as the tide and the seasons flow. It is unique to each individual, its song flowing with that of each individual spirit that creates the whole of nature as we know it. It is love, death, the air we breathe and the food that we eat. It is life itself. My Druidry is polytheistic – I believe in many, separate gods and goddesses. I honour the British deities, as well as the deities of my ancestors, mainly those of the Anglo Saxon, and by doing so, honouring my ancestors as well. I believe that the gods are real, and that they can take many forms, from a thunderstorm or a mountain the form of a woman or a man. Some gods are powers of nature itself, others of human nature, or even both. I acknowledge that there are many gods beyond those that I honour, and respect each person’s right to follow their own individual path. |
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The main gods/goddesses that I follow are Nemetona and Cernunnos, and Elen of the Ways. Nemetona is my lady of sanctuary, of peace and of holding. She is that quiet place in the midst of chaos, she is the forest shade in the hot summer sun. She lies within stone circles and cherished back gardens, she is the haven that we all seek. She provides us with a space to simply be. She is freedom. Cernunnos is my lord of the Wildwood, the untamed spirit of nature deep within the heart of the forest. He is the King Stag and the lover, he is the sacrifice of the harvest. Elen is the antlered goddess, with fiery red hair and piercing green eyes - a mischevious smile upon her lips. She is hard to spot, hard to find - she requires hard work and determination if you are to learn her mysteries. I also honour the gods of my ancestors, namely Frigge, Tiw and Skadhi. Frigge is my lady of the hearth and home, in many ways similar to Nemetona. She is order and peace, frith-weaver and seer. My lord Tiw is a god of justice and of right-action, befriender of animals and god of oaths and loyalty. Skadhi is my lady of winter, of the hunt and of skiing and snowshoeing, the quiet purple of the snowbank and the watery light of the winter sun through the clouds. I honour the ancestors of body, of mind and of spirit. Ancestors of blood are not only our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and so on, but the future generations – ancestors yet to come. Ancestors of mind are those that we connect to intellectually, whereas ancestors of spirit we connect to spiritually. I am an animist. I believe that everything has a spirit, whether it be human or cat, stone or tree, lake or hilltop. These all have a consciousness – different to that of humans, but there nonetheless. We are able to hear their song if only we learn how to listen. The spirit of all things can sometimes take the form of the fey folk. These fey or faerie come to us in forms that we sometimes understand, and sometimes do not. They are sometimes beneficent, sometimes indifferent. They are to be respected at all costs. I believe that the divinity within nature show us the nature of the divine. For more about my vision of Druidry, please see my blog at www.octopusdance.wordpress.com
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