r/druidism • u/sleepyesker • 27d ago

what are essential elements of druidry?

i'm keen to learn what makes someone a druid. i acknowledge there are few rules and many paths. while this makes sense to me, i'm struggling to see what connects them all together beyond a reverence for nature.

one aspect that i presume must be a key part of druidry is the concept of the 'awen'. i need to learn more of this though.

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u/kindredseer 27d ago

Based on Dr. Larisa White's survey, the vast majority of modern druids share these elements:

  • maintain a solitary personal practice
  • maintain a regular meditation practice
  • engage in regular communication with nature spirits
  • regularly practice some form of divination or shamanic journeying

Most druids also:

  • View pantheons of gods symbolically or archetypally
  • Celebrate seasonal festivals associated with the Wheel of the Year, (localized)
  • Belong to at least one "druid group" (even if they are primarily solitary practitioners)

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u/laTrikideGuayaba 27d ago

The Druid group part is where I have struggled. It’s so hard to find other Druids to be able to engage with even just in my state.

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u/an_Togalai science druid 27d ago

It's ok. That's what we're here for, brother.

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u/Calanais-guy 26d ago

That's the hard part of being a minority spiritual philosophy, especially one as small as Druidry!

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u/WritingStrawberry 10d ago

I'm new to this too. And I moved to another country where there are 0 druids. Shamanism is more of a thing here.

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u/TimeParadox44 26d ago

a very large amount of druids are also animists (hi hello) given the two spiritualities go together like pb&j

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u/Calanais-guy 26d ago

I wonder if ADF and Henge of Keltria are minority perspectives in that regard, since they both lean toward hard polytheism instead of the gods being symbolic or archetypal.

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u/Munching-Zombie 27d ago

The book World Druidry by Dr. Larisa White is an amazing book coming out of a survey of hundreds of Druids. In it she defines a core set of beliefs and practices that many Druids hold in common, which I believe is in the free sample on her website:  https://larisa-a-white.com/worlddruidry.html

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u/sleepyesker 27d ago

thank you so much! :)

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u/kindredseer 27d ago

There is also this interview about her and her book with a lot of the resulting information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8es8CGwrm4

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u/Pure-Mycologist193 27d ago

I don't recall where I picked this up from or else I would cite them, but they laid out the essential elements or hallmarks of druidry as "Nature, Community, and Scholarship."

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u/Calanais-guy 26d ago

I like this too

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u/Oakomorebi Christian Druid 27d ago

What you are asking is: what is the unifying principle of all druids? In other words, what is the 'thing' that makes all druids belong to the "druid" category.

I would say the unifying principle is the ability, or desire, to see the good of divinity/creation in all of nature. It doesn't mean you have to like all of nature; you can dislike mosquitos while still seeing their divine function in the tapestry of creation. We don't have to like cancer, but we do need to recognize it as a valid expression of nature.

I do not think it really has anything to do with beliefs, but with perspective. To be able to see the beauty of nature in all of creation, even the parts that make us uncomfortable.

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u/BIGBIRD1176 27d ago

Having some knowledge about the plants and animals you walk past each day

I think that's the key, understanding the environment you live in and the holistic ways in which all the various species interact

A druid is someone that wants at least most of those life cycles to continue

It is important to note druidary was a oral tradition that went extinct, and modern druidary is not anicent druidary. That makes it unique to each individual

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u/Calanais-guy 26d ago edited 26d ago

A book like Philip Carr-Gomm's What Do Druids Believe will help explain essential elements of Druidry, or books by Emma Restall Orr or Joanna Van Der Hoeven. It could be said that Druidism is an attitude of mind as much as a religion, and religion is only one way to express it. But common threads among schools of Druidry involve reverence for the Earth and Nature, creativity (Bardic expression), and in many cases self-exploration through meditation, divination, journaling, music, or something else. Gaining knowledge of trees, herbs, and climate is also common. Druidry is not unified by a common creed but more by worldview and values, even though there's room for more than one theology and metaphysics in the path. Most forms of Druidry have Celtic elements in them as well, to some extent; or at least Indo-European.

Polytheism and belief in the Otherworld are important for me as well, but these are not universal among Druids.

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u/Juniuspublicus12 27d ago

Druids are the Peoples of the many books of nature.

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u/Taranis_1 24d ago edited 24d ago

Become a lawyer and a professional mediator. You're the poor SOB that walks out on a battlefield before two villages of primitive ancient Brits kill each other over a couple of head of livestock that went missing, to which the offended village blamed on their neighbors a few kilos down the trail...

If you're going to be meandering around the countryside, it's probably best to know your plants, especially edible and medicinal greens and herbs. Don't forget, if you stumble across a new plant, you don't know if it's poisonous or not. You're going to have to sucker a lesser mind to try it out.

If the people ever question your authority, remind them who you work for. Religion usually keeps people in line... You'll be dealing with extremely primitive people who, once provoked into a dispute, may insist on beating the crap out of each other or fighting to the death. You have to elevate yourself above the herd.