A significant proportion of Druids do not identify themselves as primarily Pagan.
There are those who declare Druidry not to be a spirituality or religion, and
many hold that it is a path of mysticism, a wisdom school, within which one
can hold any religious belief. This allows for Druids who are purely searching
through the mind, without an acknowledgment of spirit other than as life force
energy. A good number of these non-Pagans blend the philosophies of Druidry
with those of Christianity.
For a Druid Christian, the Earth and all creation is an expression of the deity
as presence, and therefore deeply sacred. While there are Christians who acknowledge
this without moving into Druidry, others find that the philosophies significantly
strengthen and broaden their faith. Deepening the acceptance, within the framework
of Christianity, of the power and beauty of the divine gift of the physical,
there is opened up also the respect for sexuality, for birth, our genetic inheritance,
and with it reverence for our ancestors. The Earth, its flora and fauna, humanity
and all creation become an altar to God. In an age when environmentalism, the
importance of family and community, interest in folk traditions and natural
medicine, are all increasing, the point at which Druidry and Christianity meet
becomes clearer.
The openness of Druidic
language, which allows for any colour and mixture of god and ceremony within
its essential philosophy, invites the Christian to relate her own imagery into
Druidry. There are many points of meeting : for instance, the Mabon, the sacred
child, the sun reborn in the darkness of Midwinter, is comfortably woven with
the birth of Jesus. The importance of divine sacrifice is also shared, acknowledged
in Druidry at the harvest with the death of the corn god, the cycle of decay
and regeneration through the seasons of the year, and the process of dying to
the self in the mystical journey to inner peace.
Christians within Druidry come from many different churches, from the simplicity
of Quakerism to the highly ritualistic, from the focus on Jesus to the honouring
of a thousand saints, and each interacts with the Druid philosophies in a different
way, each creating a different Druidic practice. Some strands of Christianity
are easily plaited with Druidry, such as those where particular saints act as
spirit guardians at, for example, healing springs.
There are some Druid Orders who only accept Christians into their membership
(while others would not accept non-Pagans). The vast majority, however, are
not restrictive in this way and, indeed, many Druids actively work on the borders
where the two traditions meet, bridging the gaps, addressing issues where misunderstandings
have arisen. Interfaith conferences held over the last five years have inspired
an increasing tolerance and understanding, not only at the border points but
deeper into each tradition.
A number of those who blend the two do so from a point outside the Christian
church, although remaining within its faith. These Christian or Christic Druids
retain a clear understanding of Christian deity, honouring Jesus Christ as the
saviour, the key and the gateway, in whichever way they are most accustomed
to or inspired by, yet step away from the structure of the religion which is
regarded as political. For the wider Pagan and polytheistic Druid community,
these Christic Druids are acknowledged and respected simply as revering another
of the numerous gods.
Some Christians within Druidry describe themselves to be of the Celtic Church.
The concept that a unified and peaceful Celtic Christianity existed in these
islands long before the arrival of Roman Catholicism is one that was contrived
in the sixteenth century by those seeking to justify the Reformation. The Protestant
reformers claimed that the older church, which had been overwhelmed by Rome,
was a simpler and purer form of Christianity, and therefore by rejecting Catholicism
they were simply embracing an older native version of the faith.
It is understood now that this was a political argument with no foundation. The Christianity which did reach Britain and Ireland from the fifth century CE and before the spread of the Holy Roman Empire was a chaotic and fractious affair, filled with evangelical fervour and a horror of Paganism, of nature and sexuality. The idea that many Druids and Pagans were naturally and easily drawn to such a faith because it resembled their own is an extension to the myth of the purer, peaceful Celtic Church. The conversion of kings took place as an acknowledgement of a more powerful god of battle, not a move to a god of love.
For those eager to find inspiration within Christianity and through the earliest texts, tales of the Celtic saints are a rich source. They are stories of men and women who struggled and succeeded in finding peace and harmony in an era of intense violence and uncertainty.
The notion of Celtic Christianity is nowadays an issue quite separate from the imaginary ideal of a romantic pre-Catholicism. For many it is that part of the modern liberal church which stands on the border line with Druidry and earth spirituality, acknowledging the history of these islands, bringing to the fore the saints whose faith influenced our ancestors, honouring the beauty and power of the land and seas.
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Emma Restall Orr (bobcat)
The British Druid
Order
bobcat@nemeton.demon.co.uk
Author of
Spirits
of the Sacred Grove and Principles
of Druidry USA
Spirits
of the Sacred Grove and Principles
of Druidry UK