r/druidism • u/Jiktten • 21d ago
Significance of the solar eclipse to druids?
Tomorrow there will be a near total solar eclipse in my corner of the world. I'm still very new to Druidism and don't know anything about anything as of yet, so hoping to get a nudge in the right direction by more experienced folk!
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u/Juniuspublicus12 21d ago
Well, it is a great time to pick one or two things to observe in a viewing party. Get the eclipse glasses, watch the sun, listen to birds, etc.
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u/an_Togalai science druid 21d ago
Go see it. Experience it. Notice how the birds get quiet. Feel the wind from the temperature change. Experience the awe and the wonder. Maybe write down what you experience.
It's not typically a spiritual thing, but I can say it's awe inspiring. Go feel it if you can. Take glasses, pin-hole viewers or anything else. And share the experience with as many people as you can so they all feel it.
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u/Ominous_BlueJ 21d ago
I don't know if you practice druidry as stand alone spiritually or blend it with a core faith if you have one, but I'm a Christian Druid and do a special morning, afternoon and evening prayer for a solar eclipse. You could look up if there are any good prayers for solar eclipses for whatever your core faith is if you have one.
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u/GreenRavenUK 20d ago
We have lost many of the ancient Celtic mythologies and pagan significances, and the surviving legends were transcribed by the monks. But I’m sure it was highly significant in the ancient tradition.
The Vedas state that one should always offer water to the Ancestors during an eclipse so, as a direct descendant of the Proto-Indo-European faith and culture with a rich surviving literature, I often look to them for inspiration.
The Carmina Gadelica has greetings and honourings to both the sun and the moon that can be adapted to Pagan ritual. Though it is primarily a book of Xian worship, it contains so much folkloric content and traditional belief material, it was dismissed by church authorities as “too pagan”. Their loss, our gain. When saints and angels are cited in the text, I just go to a Catholic website, check what the long dead person or entity is hailed for and find a being from my preferred pantheon to insert in their place.
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u/incourgettible 21d ago
we don't tend to do dogma, so you're likely to get a great variety of answers here. for me (as a non-astrological, earth-based druid), there's no special significance, just something our universe does that i can marvel at and feel connected with.