The Animist Druid (or perhaps the Totemic Druid)

[wolf560]

Short and Sweet....

My Deities are not humanoid; they are animistic and they are my dearest companions.
Specifically I follow Totems (capitalized because they are Deities in their own right)
I believe that we have 9; of which 5 have shown themselves to me so far.

Many have told me that these are "merely animal spirits and are not True Deities"
Some have told me that "in order to truly be Pagan, I have to have Gods and Goddesses"
A few have said that "I am not a Druid because I do not follow Celtic Deities"
A very few have actually said "why would you pay homage to a mindless animal?"

I and my five companions have endured all of these with a smile and merely wish to know if there are any others out there that have beliefs similar to mine....

[Attila]

Interesting stuff wolfy, I don’t see how that can be non-druidic, it is very much in tune with nature and it recognises there is much more to animals as thinking living creatures than we percieve. Because animals don’t think in English or at least not to the same degree we do, we don’t realise that much of our thinking processes are still done on the same non linguistic level. The toltecs [so I am informed] believe a certain beetle [I forgot which one] was the wisest being on earth, and the ancient Egyptians as many others had many animal headed deities recognising all of this.

[wolf560]

Yes, I found myself "coming out of the Druid tree closet" in a community of very immature Wiccans that (mostly) had never heard of Druids to begin with. They all professed to having spirit guides and almost all of them had animal spirit guides to boot.

Long story, but they all felt that "if it is an animal, it can be eaten... if it can be eaten then it cannot be divine". They would call their spirit guides into sacred circle as if they were pets on an astral leash.... then again, some would call their Deities in in just the same manner.

My response eventually was "if you can eat it then why would you have it as a spirit guide?"

It not only shut them up but my Companions laughed and laughed and laughed....

[MiriamSPia]

I'm not really like that. I'm more like a Christian who thinks its okay to commune with Nature; that like Dr. Doolittle, its OK to chat with the animals; that trees can talk back to me - or anyone sensitive enough to listen; that goddess is a perfectly OK term, that both masculine and feminine can be perceived as divine, that the many are of the one and this expresses not only monotheism but is an excellent philosophical teaching, I'm a panentheist...there is more the divine than the world, but the world is the body of God...or something made by God...still baffled by my own dualistic tendencies of mind, ala Descarte's dualism, but both Aristotle and Jesus Christ taught that the spirit and the flesh are one - there is not that kind of duality...neurologists might say simply that the neocortex sometimes mistakenly thinks its the be all end all, but it isn't....I like trees and animals...my sense of the 'astral' is that it has often half false...and the Horned One is a great lesser deity for me if I'm seeking a sex partner. Currently, I'm an Ovate in Germany; I'm an American actually.

[Frog]

I don't see why this would be considered non-druidic. Should you follow such dieties, Cernunnos is shown as being the Stag-God, so it isn't such a big leap; similarly we learn that Taliesin and Ceridwen shapeshifted easily. For me then, it is entirely acceptable that a god or goddess could choose to show themselves as animals; to show themselves as human is just another form, but one that is more "acceptable" for some people.

Pagan does not have a specific faith following - and it is inaccurate to say it does. Similarly I disagree that I "MUST" follow Celtic dieties; my family ancestory seems to be part French, and even if I am descended from Anglo-Saxon stock then it still means that Celtic gods may not be "my" gods.

Attila - are you thinking of the Scarab beetle?

[Mountainheart]

In response to MiriamSPia, I am also a panentheist. I came to that philosophy via Christianity but find that it seems to have taken me on from that: and I find myself here

To me God/ess is more a verb than a noun.

In terms of the original post, I believe that deity can be found in all things, including ourselves: but what messages and guidance we get has to be weighed up and interpreted by our own wisdom and intuition.

[DaRC]

Many have told me that these are "merely animal spirits and are not True Deities"

Well I follow a Druidic Heathen path. As the Germanic Gods and Goddesses seem to shape change regularly into animals then it would seem sensible to treat all animals respectfully.

Some have told me that "in order to truly be Pagan, I have to have Gods and Goddesses"

My response to that is always "can you define what is a God / Goddess please?"

A few have said that "I am not a Druid because I do not follow Celtic Deities"

Always a contentious issue this - perhaps why I shy away from the term Druid, except within OBOD specific circles, and prefer follower of Druidic philosophy.

A very few have actually said "why would you pay homage to a mindless animal?"

I guess they've never had pets Even my goldfish were smart - could recognise me and had their own food preferences (loved the leftover Brussel Sprouts at Yule, didn't like sweetcorn despite what the books said). My sister goes further and (husband, children excepting) prefers animals to people. As she puts it "at least you can trust animals."

[Attila]

Attila - are you thinking of the Scarab beetle?

No that was an Egyptian rebirth and creation representative, this was Toltec ~ Mesoamerican, similar to mayans.

Worth noting that many people associate druidry with the pre-celtic religion, so I don’t see why deities have to be celtic. I personally think druidry continued what already existed in given regions, so here in Britain we simply went from wooden and stone circles, to ready made wooded groves. Equally I believe Stonehenge was a temple to Saturn or ‘father time’, then who knows what the representative deity was to the pre-celtic peoples who built it! I also think Britain is a Capricorn nation and hence Saturn would be our ruling deity, which kinda makes sense, america is our opposite cancer, hence ‘the special relationship’, we are opposites who like nothing better than to have a dig at each other, but we also get on really well on many levels.

[wolf560]

I agree.... Druidry was something that was a 'continued form'...

I personally think druidry continued what already existed in given regions...

...what Druidry is now is something different, not the same as before but still substantial.

Some of the Wiccans eventually realized that what they thought they knew of Celtic Paganism was not as much as what they should have known... too much 'pagan romance novels' and not enough 'pagan history' I suppose.

I am very comfortable with my path now, it just caught me off guard when it happened...