Christian Druidry
Discover Christian Druidry, that feels right to you.
No theology or dogma, only choices.
What is Christian Druidry?
The term “Druidry” was a creation of Ross Nichols, in the mid-twentieth century. He wanted to stress that the Druid path was not an “ism,” an ideology or set of beliefs.
Druidry has no theology or Dogma, every Christian Druid chooses their own concepts 'from the very many' to adopt. To be Christian though we have to follow Christ's teachings and one of God's greatest teachings was to 'love all' God is Love and love is inclusive, Christian Druidry is inclusive.
It's forgotten sometimes that not all Druids consider themselves Pagan, some consider themselves for example; Atheist-Druids, Muslim-Druids, Buddhist-druids, Zen Druids and Hasidic-Druids.
The earliest modern Druids aligned themselves with Christianity. Some writers like William Stukeley regarded the Iron Age druids as proto-Christians, who were monotheists worshiping the Christian God.
In Christian Druidry everything in creation is sacred, for everything is a 'word' of God. We do not value the bible any less, if anything more, Colossians 1: 15-17, we just also have great value for God's first bible, creation itself. If you spend some time in it, when you look at the stars, you'll see Christ too? or maybe you'll hear God whisper? like the breeze going through the Trees.
A ‘Druid Christian’ is different to a ‘Celtic Christian’ because they wish to be free from the theological Shackles, or maybe they just wish to remain Shackled to some of the theology in their current Christian Domination that doesn’t agree with the Celtic Christian theology, of course there is no reason one couldn't be a 'Celtic Druid Christian’ or any other type of Druid Christian (maybe because they want to loosen some of the theological Shackles while keeping others with that particular line of Christianity)
So, What is Druidry?
Strip Druid right back to the word, Dru as the Celtic word for oak and combine it with the indo-European root Wid (to know) and go with the translation of 'one with the knowledge of oak'
The core here is nature, working to achieve a connection with nature, learning from and respecting Nature. some even become a medium between the people and land.
Some say Druidry without spirituality and the Celtic influence wouldn’t be Druidry, yet still Druidry is practiced as a philosophy, some simply walk this path to help them create a better psychological connection with nature with new philosophical understandings that promotes better ecological ways of living, drawing inspiration simply from nature itself.
In short Druidry is practiced as a philosophy, or spiritual belief. Those who practice it as a religion you could say is more 'Druidism', rather than Druidry. Hence Ross Nichols coining the term Druidry.
All of those who choose one or more of these three paths are all Druids. Any and all of these three paths are entirely compatible with all religions, If the heart chooses.
Ancient Druids and celts wrote nothing down, so what parts of Celtic Influence do we use (how little? how much?), what parts can be trusted, much of modern Druidry relies upon sources from literature from the early Christian period and also commentaries from classical Greek and Roman scholars, the only surviving records from the times ancient druids existed were written by classical authors who had no love for them, through your journey into Druidry you’ll come across lots of ‘concepts’ offered to you, relying on mythologies, histories, languages and ideologies associated from Celtic culture, expressions such as land, sea & sky, understanding of the underworld, transformation, reincarnation, spirituality just to scratch the surface, with a (take or leave it, approach), nothing is dogmatic. You'll be offered concepts that draws from Celtic heritage to explore the natural world that infuses the very term Druid, layered with insight, wisdom and knowledge from our natural heritage, our ancestors. But remember this is your path, your journey, seek and learn but only adopt what feels true to the heart.
There are endless courses and books to explore from, people will try and push what they feel Druidry is upon you, but stand firm, Druidry has no fixed theology or dogma, it’s not just for pagans as some will try and suggest or neither is Christian Druidry anti Paganism, leading to the term ChristoPagan that many who follow Christian Druidry also choose to call themselves.
This is your journey, enjoy it, have fun.
Seek what each season means, not what you're told it means.
The Eightfold Wheel of the Year seems to me more based on the Buddhist dharma wheel. Rather than only the historical pagan (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain ) Garald Gardner spent much time in Asia as a young man, and it shows a lot in modern druidism.
I personally think this is a good thing because technically it doesn’t matter where the Eightfold Wheel is inspired from ( it’s observation of natural happenings in nature that our bodies have adapted too and our cultures from all over the world have been influenced by since the beginning, No faith owns that, its simply scientific.)