Druid Mysteries
Page 5
In many ways John Aubrey can be seen as the real founder of the modern Druid movement. He was inspired by the magical landscape around him, and we can feel proud that a figure of such wit and wisdom presided over Druidry’s renaissance.
WILLIAM STUKELEY – FOUNDING FATHER OF ARCHAEOLOGY
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John Aubrey’s ideas on stone circles influenced another man – William Stukeley. Born in 1687, Stukeley, a young Lincolnshire doctor, had found himself drawn to Stonehenge after seeing engravings of the site. He then read and made notes from a transcript of Aubrey’s Monumenta Britannica, and a few years later, in 1719, he visited Stonehenge for the first time. For the next five years he made annual visits to Wiltshire, carrying out a detailed study of both Avebury and Stonehenge which laid the foundations for the development of the modern science of archaeology. In 1740 he published the result of his researches in Stonehenge Restored to the British Druids.
Stukeley became a Freemason, and discovered – on being summoned to Kew Palace – that the then Princess of Wales shared his enthusiasm for Druidry. She apparently became the patroness of a Druid group that he organised, taking on the name ‘Veleda, Archdruidess of Kew’.23
THE ANCIENT DRUID ORDER
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The Ancient Druid Order, out of which the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids developed, traces its lineage back to Stukeley, and the philosopher John Toland before him. It is said that Stukeley was succeeded as Chief of the Order by such figures as David Samwell, a medical naval officer who travelled with Captain Cook on Resolution and Discovery, and who wrote the first-hand account of Cook’s death at the hands of natives in Hawaii; William Blake, whose remarkable drawings of Avebury and Stonehenge were strongly influenced by Stukeley and who refused to take the oath at his trial at Chichester Assizes, declaring that he was a Druid; Godfrey Higgins, author of three hefty volumes, the first of which was entitled Celtic Druids; Gerald Massey, who was similarly productive, and who – along with Higgins – was used as source material by Mme Blavatsky; and George Watson MacGregor Reid, a flamboyant writer and naturopath who stood for election to both the House of Commons and the American Senate. Historical records can trace leadership of the Ancient Order only to the 1900s, although further research may enable us to trace it further back. It is likely, however, that the earlier figures inspired not so much an actual organisation as a cultural movement and a general interest in Druidry, which resulted at the dawn of the twentieth century in the formation of the Ancient Druid Order (not to be confused with the Ancient Order of Druids, which was founded in 1781, see below).
WELSH DRUIDRY
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While these figures guided or inspired English Druidry, Welsh Druidry was strongly influenced by the Glamorganshire stonemason Edward Williams, who took the bardic name Iolo Morganwg. In the late eighteenth century, Morganwg created items of Welsh bardic tradition, based partly or apparently on records, both oral and written, which have since disappeared. Contemporary religious preoccupations combined with his own creative imagination and whatever ancient wisdom records he had inherited to produce a series of literary forgeries which for many years were considered genuine, and resulted in the inclusion of Iolo’s now questionable Gorsedd ceremony in the perfectly genuine Eisteddfod. Whether we consider Iolo’s influence an inspiration or a pollution, we know that he contributed towards a revival of the bardic tradition in Wales that lives to this day.
THE THREE TYPES OF MODERN DRUIDRY
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While the Druid Revival began in the seventeenth century, with interest in the megalithic monuments of Britain and the rediscovered classical texts, it gained momentum in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and resulted in the development of three separate, though related, manifestations of Druidism.
In Wales, Bardic festivals of music and poetry – Eisteddfodau – can be traced back to at least 1176, though they are undoubtedly of ancient provenance. Historical records are scant, however, and the first modern Eisteddfod occurred in 1789. A few years later, in 1792, Iolo Morganwg introduced his Druid ritual into the Eisteddfod proceedings. Since then the Welsh Eisteddfod has grown into a flourishing institution dedicated to helping promote Welsh cultural identity and language, and is now known as the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales. Most of those who participate in the Eisteddfod Druid ceremonies would probably be horrified to think their activities might in any way be seen as ‘esoteric’ or ‘pagan’. Much of their spirituality would be grounded in the Church, mostly Methodist, and they would see their Druidic activities as cultural rather than ‘spiritual’. The Eisteddfod, complete with its Druid ceremonial, was also adopted in Brittany in 1899 and in Cornwall in 1928.24
In England a different kind of Druidism developed through the organisation of the Ancient Order of Druids, founded by Henry Hurle in a tavern in London’s Poland Street in 1781. Modelled along the lines of Freemasonry, it offered mutual support, social gatherings, and a type of ceremonial similar to those of fraternal societies, where a Bible was placed on the lectern at each meeting and discussion of religion was prohibited. Lodges proliferated throughout England, and then abroad in most corners of the British Empire and in parts of Europe. Schisms occurred and other groups formed, and many thousands of people were (and still are) members of such groups. As with Freemasonry, engraved certificates, rings and even porcelain tea sets are sometimes discovered in antique shops or are unearthed as ancestral heirlooms, and families remember that ‘Granddad was a Druid’. But even though the Druid was offered as a symbol of the wise philosopher within such groups, no spiritual teachings were given, and their purpose was seen as exclusively charitable and social.
The third type of Druidry that evolved as a result of the revival of interest in Druidism was practised in England by the Ancient Druid Order. Only here do we see an attempt to make Druidry a spiritual path in its own right. Early in the 1900s, if not before, the Order began holding summer solstice rites at Stonehenge – initiating a struggle with the owners of the land to gain access for worship that has continued on and off for about a hundred years. In addition, autumn and spring equinox ceremonies started to be held annually on Primrose Hill and Tower Hill in London. Initiation ceremonies were developed and esoteric teachings given.
THE WIDER WORLD – BEYOND THE ORGANISED DRUIDS
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So far we have looked at how organised Druidry has evolved over the last few centuries. But in many ways the real resurgence of Druidry occurred outside the limited circles of the Welsh, Cornish and Breton Eisteddfod movements, the English fraternal societies and – later – London’s occult intelligentsia.
Ever since the rediscovery of the old classical texts and the simultaneous discovery of the New World, the Druids had come to symbolise a hidden history. The prevailing view that our pre-Christian ancestors had been ignorant, grunting savages was undermined by the image of robed ‘forest sages’ who taught Pythagorean mathematics to the children of the nobility, and who parted warring factions with soothing words of wisdom, ‘shaming Mars before the Muses’ as Diodorus Siculus recounted. The Romantics loved this, and the Druids came to represent an indigenous lineage of noble philosophers that had previously been thought to exist only on foreign soil – in the classical worlds of Greece and Rome.
This new-found pride in ancestry coincided with the movement away from imperialism and towards nationalism. Local pride in local culture, folklore and language developed, so that customs and folk-tales that had been dismissed as quaint or irrelevant now began to feed the newly developing national literatures of Ireland, Wales and Scotland. And in the background stood the Druid – half shrouded in the mists of fantasy and wish-fulfilment, half-revealed in the light of lingering custom or ancient tale.
This revival of interest and the gaining of inspiration from Celtic mythology – from stories and accounts of the old Gods and the ancient Druids – has never diminished. The Romantic poets and philosophers found their inspiration there, as did the
writers and poets of the Celtic Twilight. Celtic art and music has continued to haunt our imaginations and to feed our souls. Slowly, over the last three hundred years since the beginnings of the Druid Revival, the treasure-chest of our western European pre-Christian spiritual heritage has been revealed, and the effect of this has only really become apparent in the last few decades, with Druidry and Celtic spirituality gaining their rightful places, finally, alongside the other great spiritual traditions of the world.
EXERCISE
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After reading this chapter, spend a few moments forgetting all that you have read, make yourself comfortable and allow yourself to come to a sense of inner centredness and calm. Let all disturbing thoughts be laid aside. Close your eyes, and focus for a few moments on your breathing. Become aware of the sun rising. Feel yourself bathed in light and warmth. Become this light and warmth if it feels right. Now open your eyes and read this passage, allowing your creative imagination to build the images as you learn of them:
Imagine that you are living in Britain in the seventeenth century. A friend hands you copies of the classical authors’ writings on Druidry. That evening, by candlelight, you read Caesar, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus and others, who tell of the Druids and of their meetings in groves. That night you dream that you have travelled back in time and are consulting with a Druid in a sacred grove. You are given helpful and inspiring guidance.
The following day you remember that near where you live is a stone circle – perhaps Avebury or Stonehenge. You pack food and drink, mount your horse and ride there with a companion. You find local farmers trying to break up the stones. You talk with them, persuading them that the circle represents a part of their heritage. They leave. You walk among the stones, touching them and admiring their simple power and beauty.
Evening falls, and as the stars begin to shine above you, you spend the warm summer night sitting among the stones. With your companion you resolve to form a society to research the meaning of these sacred places, and you decide to make a journey soon to the Bards of Wales to see if you might learn more of the Druids and their lore.
For a moment you fall asleep, and in your sleep a Druid comes to you to say: ‘We are always here. Watching and waiting. We will guide and counsel and protect you. The ancient wisdom was known to us in the past and it can be known again. The stars speak through the stones. Light shines in the densest matter. Earth and heaven are one. Our physical beings and our heavenly souls are united in the mystery of being.’
You wake up among the stones. You return home with your companion on horseback. You see yourself looking in the candlelight at the manuscripts given to you by your friend. You become aware of looking at this book now. You feel yourself fully present in your physical body – here and now – filled with vitality and health.
CHAPTER FIVE
DRUIDISM TODAY:
A MODERN MYSTERY SCHOOL
Every spiritual tradition has a complex history, and the histories of minority movements such as modem paganism are more complex than most. Rather than defining Druidry in mythic terms as a primal tradition of the distant past – to be investigated purely by means of historical research, and thus distanced from the present – it makes more sense to treat it in historical terms as an evolving system changing constantly through time, subject to periodic interruptions, renewals, reformulations, outside influences, and the impact of individual experiences.
John Michael Greer, Awen – A Book of Druid Lore
WE HAVE SEEN how the Druids emerge out of the mists of prehistory as possibly the proto-Druidic builders of stone circles, until they enter written history as the Druids of the classical authors, flourishing for as long perhaps as a thousand years, until in the sixth century they seem to disappear as Christianity becomes the sole religion. For another thousand years the ideas and practices of Druidry become enshrined in popular culture through the recording of the old tales by Christian clerics, and through Christianity’s adoption of pagan customs, until – through the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries – a revival of interest in Druidry occurs which results in the founding of Druid groups. Some of these groups are simply inspired by the idea of Druids, while in reality they are cultural or fraternal organisations, with almost exclusively male and Christian memberships. But other groups are interested in Druidry as a spiritual path – they see Druidism as one of the ancient mystery traditions, and want the mystery school of the Druids to open its doors once again to seekers in the modern world.
THE ANCIENT DRUID ORDER AND THE ORDER OF BARDS, OVATES AND DRUIDS
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One such group was the Ancient Druid Order, which my teacher, Ross Nichols, joined in 1954. He became Maenarch (Chairman) of the Order until, with colleagues, he formed the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids a decade later. The teachings and ceremonies of the Ancient Druid Order, while inspired by the classical accounts of the Druids, drew mostly on the material of Iolo Morganwg, combined with influences from the magical Order of the Golden Dawn and the Theosophists, rather than on the inspiration of Celtic mythology and folklore, and when Ross finally left the Order he was able to re-introduce a focus on this core material. The teachings of the new group that he formed were organised into the three traditional grades of learning recorded by the classical authors, of Bard, Ovate and Druid. A study of Celtic mythology, the bardic craft of poetry and the Ogham tree-language was introduced, and the full round of eight seasonal ceremonies were celebrated, as opposed to the three celebrated by the Ancient Order.
It had taken a long time – from the Druid Revival several hundred years previously – for Druidry to reclaim its essential focus and its source material. The preoccupation of eighteenth-century revivalists with seeing Druidry as a precursor to Christianity, and of nineteenth-century Theosophists and Universalists with seeing it as yet another manifestation of the Perennial Philosophy, had obscured the unique and dynamic qualities that Druidry offered the modern world. It was these qualities that Ross perceived and which he introduced into modern Druid practice, thereby making him a seminal figure in the story of Druidism.
Ross introduced into the world what one scholar now calls ‘Traditional British Druidry’25 at a time of massive cultural ferment – the 1960s. Gerald Gardner, with the help of Ross, had introduced ‘Traditional British Wicca’ to the public a decade previously. Both men drew on folklore, mythology and the Western magical tradition to create new kinds of spiritual practice rooted in the pre-Christian traditions of the British Isles and Ire land. While Gardner roamed far and wide in his search for the ingredients for his Wiccan practice, Ross concentrated on Celtic mythology and on a study of bardism and the old sacred sites for his articulation of Druidism.
The 1960s heralded a surge of interest in new approaches to life and spirituality, and midway through this decade, a turning point in Ross’s life occurred. In one year – 1964 – three of his friends and mentors died. They were spiritual leaders in the fields of Druidry, Wicca and Christianity: Robert MacGregor Reid, the Chief of the Ancient Druid Order, Gerald Gardner and Archbishop Tugdual, who had ordained Ross in the Ancient Celtic Church the year previously. It was time for Ross to become a leader himself.
NUINN – THE OLD CHIEF DRUID
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This was about the time I first met Ross – as he and a group of fellow Druids formed the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids after the death of the old Chief of the Ancient Order. I and a friend, both of us twelve years old, interviewed him about Stonehenge and Druidry for a magazine we had started. My memories of this meeting are vague, but I remember feeling at ease with this man who rummaged through his papers to show us charts and diagrams of the old monuments.
Four years later I met Ross again, at a time when I was fascinated by photography. He too was a keen photographer, and during our conversation he invited me to photograph the ceremonies. Every six weeks or so I would travel to Parliament Hill in Highgate or to the Alliance Hall in Victoria, and found myself increasi
ngly wanting to participate in rather than photograph these ceremonies.
When I visited Ross, or Nuinn as he was known in the Order (Nuinn is Irish for the ash tree), we would begin our meetings by poring over the proofs of the photographs I had taken – often drinking tea and eating sandwiches. But we would soon move on to talking about Druidry and the esoteric. After a few months, photography was dispensed with, and our meetings were concerned solely with spiritual matters. I had been drawn to Buddhism when I was about eleven and by the age of sixteen was keen to know all I could of every kind of esoteric lore. Nuinn, now in his sixties, had spent all his adult life studying religion, mythology and the occult, and being an historian he seemed able to retain the sort of detail which my mind struggled to remember. He was particularly fond of scribbling little notes and diagrams on the backs of envelopes or on napkins when we met in a café near his office in Gloucester Road. He was the principal of a ‘crammer’ – a college that specialised in cramming information into students who had failed their exams. At Carlisle and Gregson’s or ‘Jimmy’s’, as it was called, there was no sport, no assembly, no distraction from the serious business of fact-stuffing and exam taking. It was to Jimmy’s that Winston Churchill (also a Druid, though of the fraternal variety) was sent after failing his exams for Sandhurst.