Druid Mysteries

by Philip Carr-Gomm

  Figure 5. A Moccas Park Oak – drawn by J. Strutt in 1830. Immoralised by the naturalist Francis Kilvert in the nineteenth century, Moccas Park in the Welsh borders is one of the finest examples of wood parkland in Britain. Kilvert’s oaks – the ‘grey old men of Moccas . . . [which] look as if they had been at the beginning and making of the world’ are well over five hundred years old and are among the best specimens of this tree revered by the Druids

  The oak symbolises strength, solidity, continuity of tradition, and endurance. Although not as long-lived as the yew, the oak often survives for over five hundred years, and frequently stood at the hub of a village as a symbol of its age and continuity. The oak was thus a tree that acted as a gathering-place for the populace – a remnant of the tradition that Druids taught under the oak tree. And it was Edward the Confessor who seemed to respond to this awareness of the oak as a sacred tree of meeting, by renewing the City of London’s charter and swearing his oath upon the gospels at Gospel Oak in Highgate.

  Oak forests once covered Britain and much of Europe – groves of oak trees would therefore have been numerous and the oak would have represented one of the most prominent and numerous of trees in ancient times. In folk tradition, the oak was sometimes personified as the Oak King, the god of the waxing year from the time of the winter solstice to the summer solstice. At midsummer he would do mock battle with the Holly King, who would then rule the waning year until the winter solstice, at which time the supremacy would revert once more to the Oak King. Midsummer fires were of oak, and midsummer is the time of the oak’s flowering, and since it is also the central tree of Druid tradition, Robert Graves places it at the centre of the year, in the month running from 10 June to 7 July. Like the Roman god Janus, whom Graves associates with the Celtic god Llyr, the oak looks both ways at the centre-point of the year: back to the past of the year and forward to its future.

  In Liz and Colin Murray’s scheme, the oak is also the central month of the year – standing in the seventh of thirteen months. Given their beginning the year in November, however, the oak month falls in May, which seems to have less relevance than the midsummer month chosen by Graves. One connection with May, however, is that the oak was also the tree of the Celtic god Dagda, and it was the Dagda who supervised the boiling of a great cauldron of plenty, prototype of the grail – stirring it with a wooden spoon large enough to hold a man and woman coupled together. Here the Dagda, the spoon and the cauldron are seen as symbols of the fecundity of life – and it is at Beltane in May that the fundamental sexuality of nature becomes apparent in the flowering of the earth and in the coupling of both animals and humans.

  The connection between this coupling and the mysteries of time and generation will become clearer when we examine a plant that has only sometimes been connected to the Ogham, but which has always been connected with Druidry – the mistletoe.

  MISTLETOE

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  Figure 6. Mistletoe

  The association of Druids with mistletoe is strong in the popular mind – and for good reason. Pliny, in his Natural History, spoke of the Druid custom of gathering mistletoe:

  The druids, for so call they their Magi, hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe, and the tree on which it grows, provided it be the oak. They select a particular grove of oaks and perform no sacred rites without oak leaves, so that from this custom they may seem to have been called Druids (Oakites), according to the Greek interpretation of that word. They reckon whatever grows on these trees is sent down from Heaven and a proof that the tree itself is chosen by Deity. But the mistletoe is very rarely found and when found is sought after with the greatest religious ardour, and principally in the sixth moon, which is the beginning of their months and years, and when the tree is thirty years old it is then not half-grown only but has attained its full vigour. They call it All-Heal by a word in their own language . . .

  The Druid’s reverence for mistletoe comes from its symbolic association with male sperm owing to the colour and consistency of the mistleberry juice. Growing high up, the mistletoe has not touched the ground – it symbolises, therefore, seed-in-potency, in potential, awaiting the moment of conception. In ancient times, when the mistletoe was cut as described by Pliny and brought down from the tree, the Druid was undoubtedly enacting the process of incarnation, of fertilisation, of conception. The airborne seed symbolises the seed of the God which has not yet incarnated on earth – it is still on the world-tree – close to the heavens. The Druid cuts it down with a golden sickle – symbolising sun and moon, male and female power united. Conjunction – union – having occurred, the seed is brought to earth, the body of the Goddess, as it is brought down from the tree. In Druid ceremonies today we enact this at the time of the winter solstice – when the sun is reincarnated, or when the son is incarnated in the Christian tradition.

  The mistletoe symbolises the moment of incarnation, the moment of entry-into-time. The oak symbolises the eternity of tradition. Oak and mistle united point to the mystery of the existence of both Time and No-Time, Form and No-Form. In the Druid ceremony of Alban Arthan, at the winter solstice, the mistletoe on the altar is, at the end, distributed to all present as a token and talisman for the times to come. We see an interesting survival of this custom until recent times in certain Christian churches: at York Cathedral a branch of mistle remained on the high altar for the twelve days of Christmas. In Wolverhampton and Staffordshire a similar tradition is recorded – the mistle being distributed afterwards to the congregation. And the connection between the mistle and fertilisation, or fertility, is with us still when we hang up the mistle-bunches at Christmas that will allow us to kiss beneath them.

  CREATING NEW SACRED GROVES

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  Druid work with trees and plants is not simply ritualistic, symbolic or intellectual. Druids today believe strongly in the need to preserve and protect trees and to plant more of them. Druids get involved in campaigns to save ancient woodland or endangered species, and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids promotes a sacred grove planting programme that has initiated the planting of hundreds of new groves around the world. Details can be found on the Order’s website and you can request a booklet from the Order about the programme, which gives information and help in planning and planting a grove.

  To convey the Druid’s belief about the value of trees and nature to us – both physical and spiritual – here is a statement that encapsulates the ideas shared by many, if not all, Druids today:

  THE TREE OF DREAMS

  ‘When one dreams alone it is only a dream. When many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality.’

  Hundertwasser

  Druids believe passionately in the need for each of us to love, cherish and protect the natural world.

  The health of our hearts, minds and bodies, of our children, and of our society depends upon the health of the natural world. If we pollute and damage the air, the rivers, the seas and the land, we pollute and damage ourselves, our children and our communities.

  Trees, plants, animals and stones are living spiritual beings, not simply physical objects. They have as much right to be here as we do.

  The tree offers an example of how we can be both powerful and peaceful. Though it is mighty it hurts no creature.

  The tree acts as a gateway to the Otherworld.

  It sows the seeds of our future on earth.

  Destroy the forests and we destroy the dreams and the hopes of humanity.

  Each of us can become a force for good in the world – each of us can play a part in reversing the damage already caused. Just as the tree sows seeds for our future, so too can we sow seeds of hope and visions of beauty.

  EXERCISE

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  ‘Approaching a tree we approach a sacred being who can teach us about love and about endless giving. They are one of millions of beings who provide our air, our homes, our fuel, our books. Working with the spirit of the tree can bring us renewed energy, powerful inspiration, de
ep communion.’

  The quotation above is from the teaching material of the Ovate grade of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. As an exercise in relation to this chapter, you might like to see if you can develop a relationship with a particular tree. See if you can sense how far its ‘aura’ or energy field extends. Experiment by walking towards and away from it, until you can feel the extent of its subtle influence. Ask the tree for permission to attune with it, and if you feel your request is accepted, spend time meditating beneath it, opening yourself to its inspiration.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  DRUID ANIMAL LORE

  Look far off to the north-east

  On the ocean so splendid

  Teeming with life

  Home of the seals

  Shining and playful in the full tide

  Ninth-century Irish verse

  THE JOY OF Druidry is that it helps us connect with life as it is now – not as it might have been thousands of years ago, or as it might be once we have died or gained enlightenment. It opens the door and says the mysteries are here – not in arcane books or hidden temples – but here in the world of nature that surrounds us. We have seen how this approach leads us out into the land – to feel the earth-currents, to walk the old tracks, to sit in the stone circles and gaze at the stars, to celebrate the passing of the seasons and the magic of the year, to touch the trees and learn their subtle wisdom. Now it is time for us to explore the part that animals play within Druidry.

  Imagine that you are in a forest glade, a clearing lit by shafts of sunlight that filter down through the canopy of leaves high above. For a moment it seems as if you are alone in this clearing, but then you hear the sound of scuffling hooves, and all of a sudden you see a young hind approaching you – its graceful body caught in the sunbeams. She stops, and for a second the two of you simply stare at each other – each surprised, each entranced for a moment. Then she turns away from you, slowly and deliberately, and walks – not runs – back into the forest whence she came. She moves so slowly she seems to want you to follow her. You can almost hear her saying, ‘Come with me. Follow me deeper into the forest.’

  DEEPER INTO THE FOREST

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  Just as every plant and tree is considered sacred in Druidry, so every animal, fish and bird is seen as sacred too. But in the same way that some trees and plants, such as the oak and mistletoe, receive special veneration, so too do certain creatures receive particular attention within Druidry. The hind, which is a female red deer, is one such animal, and it is considered especially sacred by Druids. In Scotland they are called ‘fairy cattle’ and older people tell stories of seeing these creatures being milked on the mountaintops by fairies. Some say that the hinds are in fact fairy women themselves who have shape-shifted into this graceful form. To have a hind appear in our lives – either in the outer world or in the inner world in meditation or dreams – usually means that we will soon experience great happiness – that our lives are about to change in positive ways.

  Each creature is seen in Druidry as offering gifts of inner knowledge, vitality and healing. We know that animals can provide us with food and clothing, but here the idea is that they can offer us much more – they are not simply ‘dumb animals’, fit only for our tables or shoes. Anyone who has kept, and truly loved, cats, dogs or horses, for example, will know of the extraordinary bonds that can form between we humans and the animals we love. Telepathic connections with pets are frequently reported, and have become the basis of scientific experiments, and it has now been proved that pet ownership in the elderly prolongs life and promotes good health. All this shows that animals do indeed offer us the gifts of vitality and healing, and clearly we in turn can help them with our care and affection.

  In Druidry we go one stage further and suggest that each animal carries a different and very particular kind of ‘energy’ or healing potential – ‘medicine’ in Native American vocabulary. This energy is available to us not just through physically connecting with an animal. It simply isn’t practical to stroke a snake or lion for example, but Druids believe they can still receive energy and interact with the animal in the Otherworld. This mysterious realm is sometimes called the Spiritworld. Some might think it imaginary, others might see it as another term for the Collective Unconscious, but Druids believe it is a world to which we sometimes travel in sleep or meditation, and which we enter at the death of our physical body. There, in this parallel universe of the Otherworld, are trees and plants, animals and birds, humans and nature-spirits. Just as our outer world contains a host of different environments and beings who inhabit them, so too with the Otherworld, and part of the training of Druidry lies in developing the ability to consciously travel in this world – so that in dreams and meditation, and on death, we can navigate within it.

  Many of the old Celtic folk-tales that derive from the Druid tradition speak of this realm and of the exploits of mortals who enter it. In the story of the Well of Segais from Ireland, for example, we learn of King Cormac, who loses his wife and children to a mysterious warrior who spirits them away to the Otherworld. Cormac gives chase with an army, but a mist descends. He is separated from his troops, and he finds himself alone by a well. Around it grow nine hazel trees, and swimming in its deep waters are five large salmon who feed on the hazelnuts. Five streams representing the five senses flow from the well, which is also described as a fountain or pool. The mysterious warrior reappears and reveals himself as the god of the sea, Manannan, who reunites Cormac with his wife and children. He then explains that the wise drink from each of the five streams and the central pool – suggesting an approach to wisdom that represents the very essence of Druidry as a sensuous spirituality that seeks wisdom and nourishment from the still centre of Spirit deep within and through each of our five senses.

  The salmon is the creature that swims in the streams and the pool, and which represents the goal of every Druid – the Salmon of Wisdom. The salmon is perhaps the most sacred of all creatures in the Druid tradition, wherein it is known as the Oldest Animal. The fish as a central symbol within a spiritual tradition is ancient and ubiquitous – not only does it appear in Irish and Welsh legend, in the Vedas, in Hinduism and Buddhism, but also in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology. Orpheus was depicted as a fish, and so later were Christ and the Philosopher’s Stone of the alchemists. Christian fish symbolism, including the custom of eating fish on a Friday, is believed to derive directly from the Jewish tradition, which in turn probably drew this element from Syrian belief. The fish and the fisherman were both intimately related symbolically from the earliest days – the first avatar of Vishnu the Creator was a fish, both the Buddha and Jesus are referred to as fishermen, the Babylonians had a fisher-god and the Fisher King is the central figure in the grail legend.

  When the Druid today seeks the Salmon of Wisdom they are connecting not only to a tradition of the ancient Druids, but also to an understanding that is rooted deep in the collective awareness of all humanity.

  WAYS OF WORKING WITH ANIMALS

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  A person moving through nature – however wild, remove, even desolate the place may be – is never truly alone.

  (Richard Nelson)

  Since Druidry is a sensuous spirituality of the land that seeks an involvement with life, rather than a detachment from it, an essential way of working with animals from a Druid perspective is simply to include animals in our lives – spending time with them, caring for them, becoming involved in conservation projects. Western consumerism has tended to cut us off from much of life, enclosing us in boxes of metal as we shuttle from our brick boxes to our concrete and glass work-boxes. For many of us work involves gazing into the screen of a small box all day, to return home to an evening spent gazing at another box before falling asleep. Earth spiritualities such as Druidry offer a way out of these boxes built around us by our modern lifestyle. They encourage us to enter the natural world with an open heart and spirit to commune with the trees and the stones, the anima
ls, the earth and the sky.

  But in addition to simply being with and caring for animals more, Druidry also tells us that we can develop relationships with animals that go beyond the ordinary, and that animals in the Spiritworld as well as the physical world can guide and counsel, heal and protect us. They may come to us in our dreams, we may see them in our meditations, or we may encounter them in the outer world in magical and synchronistic ways.

  Sometimes the animals that become meaningful for us are, in fact, symbolisations of parts of ourselves – the bull or horse might express aspects of our sexuality, the hawk or eagle our intellect, for example. A great deal of pioneering work has been done in this field by the psychologist Stephen Gallegos that demonstrates the psychotherapeutic value of working with our hidden fears, urges and wishes which can be evoked as animals that inhabit our inner world. But often the animals that we see in dreams or meditations or shamanic journeys are not simply symbolic representations, but are animals that exist as objective realities in the Otherworld as well as in the physical world. They may still evoke or resonate with our hidden fears or urges, but they exist independently of us, and are not just creations of our subconscious or our imagination. It is these magical animals that offer us special qualities, special ‘medicines’.56