To Be a Druid : A Synopsis on the History of the Druids and a Guide to Current Day Practices

By TJ Armstrong

Have you always felt drawn to nature, but wanted to explore how to be more spiritually connected? Are you interested in the history of the Druids and want to know how to practice Druidry in today's modern society? Here, you can explore and learn about the history and daily practice of the Druids, and learn how to build a foundation for developing your own practice. You will learn about the spiritual ancestors of Druidry and discover what separates the Druids today from other forms of pagan, nature based spirituality. This book covers many topics from animism and shamanism, to the elements, how to connect and build a relationship with animals, plants, and trees and how to connect to your local environment. Anyone can be a Druid, regardless of your background or religion. You will learn about the Awen, using the senses to enhance your spitiural experience in Druidry and about various Druid organizations that can help guide you on your path. If you have any interest in how to connect with nature on a deeper, spiritual nature, this is a wonderful introductory book: something I was looking for when I started my journey. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: TJ Armstrong
• Release date: Jan 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224074792

Book preview

Chapter 1

Introduction: What is the Purpose of this Book?

Who am I, why am I doing this?  I am currently an Ovate in the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a Druid Organization based out of the United Kingdom, the largest Druid organization in the world. Two years ago, I was looking for a nature-based spirituality, but could not find much information. I was scouring various websites, YouTube, podcasts, and book reviews and couldn’t find a cohesive, single source of information with a quick guide on what Druidry is. I want to share with others that may be interested in Druidry and to provide a good source of information, in a single location, some of what I’ve learned. 

How did I get here? Maybe it relates to you? When I was a kid, I loved nature. I was always amazed and mesmerized by leaves, trees, and animals. I lived in a neighborhood until I was 12 and didn’t really have access to the outdoors. But then I moved to an area that had over 20 acres of woods to explore. I came to enjoy the outdoors and would wander for hours. In high school, I had to do a science project where you would identify trees by their leaves, and we had to create a scrapbook to submit for a grade with various leaves, identifying the trees. I really enjoyed this. 

I also had an incident as a child where I was taken on a hunting trip with my dad. My father was a hunter and fisherman, quite the outdoorsman. He was brought up this way, but I was not. I saw him do it, but it wasn’t until I went on my first hunting trip around the age of 12 or 13 that I had my first experience. If you are involved in hunting, you probably know the term scoped. This happens when you don’t have the rifle rested against your shoulder, and when you shoot the rifle, the recoil causes the rifle to be forced backward. Normally, your shoulder absorbs this, however if it isn’t against your shoulder, the backward force causes the rifle to move backward, which happened to me. I had the scope right against my face, and when the rifle went backward, the scope slammed into my face, splitting open the skin between my eyes, above the bridge of my nose. My father assured me it wasn’t that bad, and we kept trying to get the bleeding to stop, but finally had to go to the hospital. I ended up with 8 stitches and a good lesson learned!

However, I did get the deer, and we had to clean and process the deer. During this process, I had a profound internal experience that I didn’t fully comprehend at the time. I felt a deep connection to this animal and remember thinking why am I killing this animal when there are other animals bred specifically for the purpose of being harvested for food? This wild animal was just living its own life, and I took it away from it. I never went hunting again. Having said that, I have discovered a deep understanding of the conservationist movement and the need for hunting deer to maintain a balance in their population to allow for their preservation. Without hunting, they would overpopulate, then spread disease, have problems with sourcing enough food, and other horrible causes of their population to decline.  

I was not brought up in any spiritual practice.  In my early 20s I was in my college library and came across the section in the library on Transcendentalism. I remember reading some of the Transcendentalists authors in 8th grade and fell in love with it, but my family didn’t really go to the library and this was before the internet, so I lost touch with it. It wasn’t until I was in college and found this section that I remembered how much I loved reading it. Transcendentalists are about being connected to nature but appreciating it and admiring it from a distance. They talk about fierce independence and being separate from, but involved in society, about learning to be self-sufficient, yet appreciated the arts, poetry, philosophy and other topics, but not following dogmatic practices. Years later, I discovered Buddhism and progressed specifically to Zen Buddhism. However, these practices are about disconnecting from the world. Importance is placed on remaining neutral, and trying to limit your own, and the world’s, suffering. It is about separating and not being involved in the world around me. From here, I progressed to other various philosophies such as Nihilism (nothing matters), onto Absurdism (nothing matters so you might as well enjoy it) and Existentialism (the importance of our lives is determined by what we make of it and decide is important). 

With these practices, I always felt lost, incomplete, unwhole. It was like I was trying to separate from the world, rather than be involved in it. I didn’t understand that this is what I was missing. So, for years, I drifted, unhappy, discontented, lost like a ship at sea. 

Years later, I encountered many problems in my life. My wife was diagnosed with cancer amongst other things, and I decided I needed a better spiritual foundation in life. I Googled nature-based spirituality and came across paganism. Immediately, I was put off of this, because being brought up in the southern United States, the term paganism has the association with Satanism and devil worship. However, I looked it up and did my own research and learned that it was about connection to nature. I found there are various branches of paganism as well. The most popular form of paganism in the U.S. is Wicca. I looked into it, read about it, and started trying to practice it for a few weeks. However, the more I read and practiced, the more I realized it didn’t fit my needs. To me, Wicca was more about controlling and working with elements to inflict my will on what I want to happen, and it felt off, so I kept looking and found Druidry. What little I could find, I absolutely loved. I began to research Druidry and found quite a bit of information about Druids and Druidry from a historical perspective, but not much about them today. Then I came across OBOD, or the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. I scoured the website, devouring all I could. It did cost quite a bit to sign up, but I decided to go for it. I fell in love with it and have been studying it ever since. This was about 2 years ago. 

How has Druidry helped me? It has helped me feel at home wherever I go, I have, and continue to, developed a deep spiritual connection to the earth, animals, plants, and seasons around me.   Some people who come to Druidry say I came home and for me that was absolutely true.  It has helped me accept whatever is in front of me, to be patient, to be present and connected, not present but disconnected as with other spiritual and philosophical practices I looked into. I came to develop love and respect for all beings, to see things from a metaphorical and literal perspective, to see the connections between all things. It helped me realize we are all interconnected and dependent, not independent. It helps me understand the context of where I fit in, in the microcosm and macrocosm of the universe and the world around me. We have a very short life compared to millions of years of a rock or a stream, or hundreds of years of life of a tree. It has helped me feel connected to these entities and helps me learn from them and apply these understandings to daily life. 

Why should you read this book? If you are at all interested in nature-based spirituality, not just Druidry, I want to share this with you, so you can develop your own relationship with your local environment and the world, at a deep spiritual level. It may lead to Druidry, wicca, or any other type of paganism, or if you already have a religion, by learning and applying the philosophical and spiritual ideas here, it can help deepen your own practice, as it doesn’t conflict with other religions. You can be any religion and still be a druid or practice druidic principles. 

I hope to provide a single resource for all the various aspects of Druidry from history and the fall of the druids, up through today and the future. I will talk about many aspects including definitions of words, sects, branches, organizations, go over the elements, animism, shamanism, other spiritual practices, the wheel of the year and so much more in hopes to share my passion with you and help you find your path on this journey. This book will not be an all-inclusive reference for Druidry. However, it will cover many aspects of Druidry that the novice, beginner, or someone interested in the practice, will be interested in and to help them on their path to see if this practice is something they would like to pursue further. It can also serve as a refresher or guide for advanced practitioners to reference. I know I enjoy reading about topics I have already studied extensively because it reminds me of things I’ve possibly forgotten and helps to spark good memories or reminds me of things I’ve forgotten. 

I hope this gives an idea of who I am, how I got here, and why I am writing this book. I sincerely hope it helps you and anyone else you would like to share it with. 

Chapter 2

History and Function of Druids

In understanding any philosophical or spiritual movement, we need to first understand the past to gain a sense of understanding of the progress and development that took place to get us where we are today. Who were the druids, what did they do, what was their function in society? Were they cannibals and sacrificed people?  Are the rumors true? When did they start? How long were they around? What happened to them? We need all this context to appreciate where Druidry is today. 

The problem is that we have no written records directly from the Druids. They didn’t have written language, and nothing was recorded by them. What we know is from those who conquered or observed them, which is the Romans. 

On record the Druids go back to the 3rd century BC, but likely were around significantly longer. The Druids originated in part of Gaul. Historically, Gual was a vast empire covering northwest Europe encompassing France, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, part of Italy and Norwegian countries. At that time, these cultures were considered Celtic in origin. To identify something as Celtic is a reference to language, not specific cultural traits. Therefore, different cultures that share a language were considered Celtic.

The Druids were observed by Romans who were conquering Gaul at the time. The Romans had massive armies that were conquering most of western Europe. The Druids were defeated on the Isle of Anglesey in 60-70 AD by Tacitus. The Isle of Anglesey was considered the Druid training ground. The Celts were pushed back and wiped out sequentially through Europe to their training grounds. The final stand occurred on the shore of the Isle of Anglesey, an island on the western shores of the United Kingdom and is still present today. 

During the last battles Tacitus said On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the furies, with hair disheveled, waving brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralyzed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds. Then urged by their general's appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands. A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails.

This is the myth, whether true or not, that they sacrificed people, and performed divination with their entrails. There is also the myth of the wicker man, which has been made into books and movies, where a large human shaped structure is filled with prisoners or sacrifices and burned as an effigy to the gods. 

Remember, all we know is what was written by those that conquered them and wanted to portray them negatively. The Romans called them savages. The goal was to culturally wipe them out, to make people not want to be part of that society, which was composed of independent and nature worshiping peoples, but instead wanted citizens to join the Roman culture, embark in trade and to be controlled by the Roman empire. 

However, the Druids were known to be the priestly class of this region’s peoples. They healed people, performed ceremonies, practiced medicine through herbalism and study of the human body. They were judges, performed mediation between groups, and were lawmakers.  They were also creative, studying for over 20 years to become a bard. They memorized stories, history and legend to pass down mythology and history to the poele and the nobility of the kingdoms. They taught their children and helped them to become leaders. The bards memorized thousands of lines of poetry, history, story and songs. The locked themselves in dark rooms for days to commit these to memory. The druids studied astronomy, knew the patterns of the stars, the moon, the seasons, they managed the calendar and recommended when to plant and harvest, and how to manage livestock. 

Historically, Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea, who was a tin trader and his uncle, traveled to the druids for trade. After the trade, it was said that Jesus stayed and learned from them. 

The Druids served the kings and nobility. They were extremely valuable and important to the culture and development of society. If a bard, ovate or druid were killed or harmed, the king would order that person killed. They were also consultants, teachers to the young nobility for history, culture, ethics and morals. They used divination of the weather, animals, and runes to foresee the future and see the outcomes of wars and trade agreements. If two factions were at war, the druid would walk onto the field and the battle would stop. 

They were very valuable to society, but perhaps they were seen as savages because they did worship nature, compared to the Romans with their gods and goddesses and also during early Christian practice of the worship of one god. Scholars believe the Druids of Western Europe and the Brahmans in the Hindu religion were lateral translations of ancient Indo-European Priesthood. 

This was a brief introduction to the history of the Druidic class and what functions they served up until their extinction in the first century AD. Again, this is an introductory survey of this information, and so much more can be gleaned from other resources, both online and in numerous books. I hope this has piqued your interest and laid a foundation for the next topic, the Celtic Reconstruction. 

Chapter 3 

Celtic Reconstruction Period

There is an argument about the resurgence of Druidry. The debate centers around Reconstruction vs Revivalism. Reconstruction would be seen as taking what we know and recreating the practice of Druidry as it was done before they were wiped out.  Revivalism, which is the most common form of Druidic practice is taking what we know, then utilizing the best components or concepts and incorporating it into today and developing a new practice based on a basic foundation of beliefs. 

For over 1700 years there was nothing heard from or about the druids. Then in the 1770s Industrial society started and many people found writings about the druids and their connection to nature. Many people wanted to preserve the environment and get away from machines, the city, and industrialized society and get back to nature. At that time, these people mostly gathered for literary studies, to form a social group, and were interested in cultural preservation. There was a split because there became various sects with primarily nonreligious beliefs, some which were based on freemasonry. For instance, the Ancient Order of the Druids were formed, among others organizations. 

William Stuckley, an Anglican vicar and antiquarian spoke out and stated that he is a druid and was a descendent from the ancient practice of Druids. He wrote books about druids, megalithic monuments, ceremonies, and practices of Druidry.

Then, Iolo Morgwang (Edward Williams) protested England’s occupation and advocated for Welsh nationalism to maintain a connection to nature. He said he was the last descendent of the ancient druids and formed a group to do rituals on Primrose Hill. He organized the first tier system of practice or education and recruited some Bards and Ovates for grades of study. He made it more religious as well and by the 1840s there was a large religious push of Druidry.

In the early 1900’s Druidry was spreading, however it was very underground due to the Witchcraft Act of 1542, which was repealed and reinstated many times over the next couple hundred years. In England people were persecuted and hanged if they were found to be practicing witchcraft. However, like any underground practice, various people spread it. They would meet in stone circles and megalithic sites, or deep in the woods, hidden from public view on private property to do their ceremonial practices. 

In 1951, the Witchcraft Act was expelled, and people could practice openly. Secretly, people were practicing nature-based religions with Order of the Golden Dawn principles, which utilized components of freemasonry and other ceremonial magic. With the law down, people could be open to practice as they liked. Gerald Gardner, who was inducted into a type of witch coven in the 1920’s, openly started Wicca in the 1950s. Ross Nichols was there as a practitioner, but he wanted a more intellectual approach. He wanted to build a practice that focused on how to connect to nature, the elements, the environment, and to focus on study rather than control and manipulation of these for personal gain. 

From this desire to focus on the intellectual connection to nature, Ross Nichols started modern day Druidry. He started OBOD, the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids in 1964. It has carried on and continues to grow today. Throughout the world today, there are over 60,000 Druidry practitioners, with around possibly 30,000 or more in OBOD alone. Some of their developments for people to be able to bring Druidry into their daily life are a weekly Facebook livestream called Tea with a Druid, which is also on YouTube, Druidcast, which is a podcast they put out every month around the 20th. Part of their coursework today is a tier system, that you start in the Bard grade, then move onto the Ovate grade, and finally the Druid grade, each of which can take over a year to complete. However, one can stop any time and many people stay in the Bard grade indefinitely. 

There are also other organizations that help people practice Druidry. One is the AODA, or Ancient Order of Druids in America. Their program consists of three degrees. Their first degree focuses on rituals and practices, and explores the Bard, Ovate, and Druid, and focuses on nature practices. Their second grade is about connecting humans to nature, reading Druidic philosophy, focusing on ecology, sustainable agriculture, building deeper ritual practice and then you can choose the Bard, Ovate, or Druid path. In the third degree, one moves beyond established patterns of practice and you work to form your own, and develop a project to help put your Druidic studies into practice. 

The ADF or Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, is a non-profit religious organization in the US. They focus on Celtic religious practices, incorporating druidic practices into it. In the UK, Druids have protected religious status, but in the US, they would fall under the religious status of Pagan. 

As one can see, there are many choices of study, from secular to religious. However, they all share one common aim, which is a spiritual connection to nature. As Druidry has evolved, like any branch of philosophy, religion, or spiritual practice, groups and sects form based on their individual beliefs and practices. There are many options for study and practice the way one would like to incorporate Druidry into their life. 

Chapter 4

Druidry, Paganism, and Today

Under the umbrella of paganism, there exists many branches of practice. These are Druids, Wiccans, Heathenry, Asatru, Shamanism, Sacred Ecologist, many others. What unites these practices is that they are all connected to, and worship nature in one way or another. Some have deities, while others do not. Pagans also focus on the cycle of nature and the seasons, they have a connection to nature, the investigate the cycle of birth, growth and death, 

When some hear the term pagan they may think of the devil, a concept very prominent in the Southern US. Pagan simply means country folk or rustic folk. this term became widely used by the church in the 4th century to demonize and ridicule those that don’t believe in Jesus or follow Christianity as a religion. Technically speaking, any religion in the world that is not Christian is considered pagan from a Christian perspective of the origin of the word pagan. 

In paganism, one can be theist (believe in god), monotheist (one god), duotheist (two gods), atheist (no god), pantheist (god is everything), panentheism (god is everything, but also greater than everything), animism (all things have a soul or spirit), or deist (god created the world-but it can run on its own), or any combination of these. Some use Druidry as a religion, some as a spiritual practice, and some as a connection to nature or to understand it better. 

One can be a solo practitioner or work in groups. In OBOD and other Druid organizations, there are seed groups or groves of practitioners where people can get together, and in Wicca they get together in groups called Covens.

Wicca is a branch that modern Druidry came from. It is a matriarchal based religion with a female centered deity, while some utilize the mother earth/father sky concept, or others using the horned god/moon goddess idea, among various other spiritual beliefs. There is a hierarchy system of initiation, where Druidry is an open practice, with a progression of study or choosing one path. Wicca focuses on spellcraft and magic to create change, in congruence with one's will, while Druidry is about creativity and inspiration, utilizing the Awen as an influence. The concept of Awen will be covered later, but it is the universal flow of creative energy we learn to be open to. 

Druids also use magic, but in a different way. Some ceremonial magic is practiced, as well as individual magic, but it is less about casting spells. Magic in Druidry is about manifestation of your intentions through ritual, ceremony, or even just prayer, communing with and asking help from everything around you, elements, spirits, deities. It is about the magic of self-transformation, which some practices call alchemy. 

All pagans focus on connecting with nature, with various gods and goddesses or have no gods and goddesses and tend to focus on their relationship with animals, nature, spirits, the otherworld and the seasons, called the Wheel of the Year. 

In Druidry, the term Druid means oak wisdom or oak knowledge or knower of the oak. It is about gaining a sacred knowledge and wisdom that correlates with categorization of trees and developing a relationship with the trees. Trees have different spirits and energies, and it is possible to develop a different relationship with each tree, group of trees, or class of trees.  It’s not just about understanding and developing a relationship with trees, but all plants, animals, other entities such as mountains, a trove of trees, a stream, a field of wheat or corn, and so on. The goal is to develop, nurture and protect a relationship and deep understanding. It is about the spirit in the other entity and connecting to it. 

Druids learn to practice divination using weather, animals, stones and runes, water, performing mirror gazing, or using cards like tarot or oracle. They also use the Ogham, which are letters or symbols representing trees and their characteristics, such as patience, virtue, passion, or determination.  The Ogham consists of 20 letters and was used for early writing on stone or sticks, and used for divination or marking sacred spaces on stones or used for location markers.

Druids utilize sacred sites or stone circles or other sacred areas of energy such as lay lines. these were used for gatherings for ceremonies, recognition of the holidays in the wheel of the year. Locations such as Stonehenge and other stone circles are thousands of years old. The highest concentration is in Scotland, with over 500 stone circles. They also built burial mounds and tunnels that were seen as sacred spiritual places. For instance, on solstice sunrise, light lines up and shines into an opening, which penetrates the cave, symbolizing impregnation or fertilization of the new year.

They study, worship, and utilize the elements of fire, earth, air, water, and the fifth element of spirit. This is where the concept of the pentagram comes from. The pentagram has 5 points and is a widely used symbol in paganism. It does not mean satanism or satanic practices, as has been widely misused and spread. You may see the pentagram on jewelry. If so, it is most likely being used by a pagan, or nature loving spiritual person, not a satanist. 

Many groups also have many different focuses, such as environmental protection, religion, magic