Why am I Still a Druid?

Why am I Still a Druid?

1024px-Pentacle_3.svgI’m not a writer on the Patheos network but I regularly read the blog posts from the writers on their Pagan channel. They recently asked these writers to write an article saying why they were still a part of their religious/spiritual path. Every now and then it’s good to ask these questions of ourselves so I thought I would join in the discussion here on my blog.

I’m quite open that it was an interest in magic and the occult that first drew me to this path. That and an overwhelming love of folklore and myth. I have always had the feeling that there was something more to this world. That there were places hidden from our recognised senses and established scientific research. That behind (or in the same space if we open to the possibilities of quantum parallel universes) what our senses detect there is another place where magic, the roots of folklore, the place we have called Faerie, exists. This interest in magic led me to the books of Aleister Crowley, and the teachings of The Golden Dawn which was my practice in my early years. It was the calling of a more Earth-based path that led me to discover modern Druidry, and ultimately the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. A place that has been my home for over 20 years.

Why am I still a Druid?

Because I am still a Magician – or maybe a better word would be a Mystic – and the Druids, to me, are Nature’s Mystics. That love of folklore and myth is unchanged, and my experiences since I was a small boy have only strengthened my understanding that things are not completely as modern society and science may lead us to believe. If I want to know how something works in the material world I will always go to science – I’m a techno-geek and Apple fanboy who relishes new technology and development. But if I want to understand my spiritual experiences I will go back to the Mystery. I’m very happy with that duality and it does me well.

No other spiritual path, nor any recent scientific research and development has challenged the way I view the world, or my spiritual beliefs, to the extent that I have had to change anything at all. In fact the developments within Quantum Physics and the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle have actually helped.

To quote Shakespeare once more: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

Why am I still a Druid? Because it helps inform my choices, it influences my political views and my social conscience, it helps me to be fully present in the material world, and yet still retain a sense of wonder. As a spiritual path it spans the seemingly unreachable chasm between the Apparent World, and the Otherworlds.

Is Druidry a spirituality? A religion? A way of life? Yes it is. And I’m still very happy here.

 

7 responses to “Why am I Still a Druid?”

  1. Very well said. I’ve thought in a similar way for a very, very long time. I just didn’t know where it would lead me. Now I do.
    Blessed be.

  2. Quite. The Riddle can’t be sung , or painted or told, other than from the notion of the Mystic that unites all worlds.

  3. Another enjoyable read, I love your comments on science, I’ve never seen why there is such a clash in some peoples minds between science and spirituality, the more science discovers the more convinced I am there is more than meets the eye, for example dark matter and dark energy, forces that we know are there but can’t be seen or fully understood…. Yours in the mystery! 🙂 /|\

  4. Very Well said. My own journey started in Druidry then went to the Occult and into astrology and alchemy then eventually I came full circle back to Druidry. I am a scientist by training, education and profession ( chemistry and physics). The only religion that fills my spirit and feeds my soul is that of the Druid. There is no conflict between science and my religion from my view point. Are we not all part of the Cosmic song which can be a metaphor of how one describes string theory? I am mystic, mage and scientist. Science is the magic we think we understand, and the Mystery endures.

  5. Yep it works for me and I see no issues between Druidry and science either. I just wish all scientists were also Druids. We might not be in such a mess then!

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