Questions about OBOD's course

[Saorsa]

Presumably you’ve already researched heathenry. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/subdivisions/heathenry_1.shtml

It’s interesting that, historically and as far as I can tell, reawakening awareness of and interest in our druidic heritage did not begin with the Welsh but probably with the Germans, then French and from there the Scots. English and Welsh interest followed on but it has been the Welsh heritage in particular that has persisted, following the establishment of the “cultural druid” movements led by figures such as Iolo Morganwyg. I wonder what would have happened if the Scottish academics of those early days had not decided that the druids were “bad” but had pursued and developed them as the Welsh eventually did.

Just as the Celts were more of a culture than a race and encompassed a variety of peoples, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there had existed a form of druidry that looked to the North and the Scandinavian/Anglo-Saxon myths and gods but it seems the last 300+ years have focussed on the Brythonic Celts. I am aware of those on other druid forums who follow these northern gods but still see their closest links with other druids of the “southern” (to you!) Celts. http://theanimistscraft.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/druidry-and-the-english-tradition/

I’d be interested to hear the views of others on this question.

hi Gwion,

No I haven't, thanks for the links. Fascinating history.
Love your "looks to the north" phrasing, that expresses better and without getting tangled in northern/southern!

edited to add: Just begun to read and ponder the links... both thought-provoking and with many yeses... thank you.

[Saorsa]

hi everyone,

I've been meaning to add a postscript to my previous few posts. I think that when I decided to 'learn more' I subtly shifted from an active participant, happily doing my own thing, to a more passive recipient, keen to find exactly the 'right' body of widsom to learn, and that this active-passive shift, more than anything else, is what was sitting awkwardly for me. Seeing from your responses that my questions are live topics and that druidry is alive and shifting moves me back into the active, co-creator stance, from where I can hear a yes and move forward.

My thanks!

[Whitemane]

Presumably you’ve already researched heathenry. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/subdivisions/heathenry_1.shtml

It’s interesting that, historically and as far as I can tell, reawakening awareness of and interest in our druidic heritage did not begin with the Welsh but probably with the Germans, then French and from there the Scots. [color=#004000]I’d be interested to hear the views of others on this question.

I'm not sure what time frame you're talking about, but the first country where a Green party was able to be real power in politics was West Germany, and that began in the 1970s (or even earlier.) The movement really seemed to resonate with a nation of engineers and chemists.

It may sound a bit trite, but the Germans always did have a connection with the forests, and a walk in the woods was always an option for a Sunday afternoon, especially if there was a nice little Gastaette where you could refresh yourself before heading home.

[Gwion]

I'm not sure what time frame you're talking about, …

I was thinking of the “first Druid revival” at the end of the fifteenth/beginning of the sixteenth century with the likes of Joannes Trithemius, Condrad Celtis and Johannes Aventinus. They preceded Iolo Morganwyg by more than 200 years although it’s Iolo who is probably considered the father of the revival.

As for twentieth century “spiritual” Druidry; I’ve come to think of Ross Nichols as the starting point for what most regard as the modern strand. I get the impression that the friendship between him and Gerald Gardner sowed the seeds of the modern forms of paganism but I’m totally unclear about where USA Druid groups, for example, fit into this picture.

It may sound a bit trite, but the Germans always did have a connection with the forests.

I’d not disagree about a German love of the outdoors in general and their pioneering position, although by the time of the most modern pagan revival the UK had already had its own “right to roam” movement with things like the Kinder trespass – as well as a (second) folk revival with an overlap of proponents (such as Ewan MacColl. By the time the American social folk influence and youthful outlook arrived in the 1960s, the time was certainly right to blend all these strands together. I think much of modern paganism has roots in the spiritual aspects from Gardner and Nichols, a love of the outdoors and an interest in the expression provided by modern “folk” music.

[I’m not sure how I got to this point in a thread on “Questions about OBOD's course”, particularly as I’m not taking any of them and don’t know what’s in them, so I’ll stop now. Sorry for the thread drift. ]