I had a long path to druidry, which I wrote up on my blog…
New Moon Oak Blog: Why Druidry?
What drew you to druidry?
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Peak oil.
A spanish peak oil blogger, and a state Scientist, Antonio Turiel, had JMG old blog, The Archdruid report on the sidebar.
The fact that this man was a Druid, and had so many original and interesting things to say ended up convincing me to read The Druidry Handbook and from there, after gathering enough will, my practice started 5 years ago.
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One might say that I was always a Druid at heart long before I even knew what a Druid was. I lived a life with my parents that was very Druidic, just because the earth came first. We were raised doing everything sustainable before it was a political hot or red-button issue. My childhood love of nature and connection to it made me become a green, nature, hedge, elemental witch. Once I found out about Druidry, then it was a new beginning in my life. My life has changed little since picking up Druidry because I lived that way. It’s impossible to pinpoint when I wanted to “change” to be a Druid. I am grateful that I grew up that way, to begin with. However, my resolve has only solidified with time, and I never feel I can do enough. Seeing how few people care about this planet that we live on or even the universe as they dump waste into space keeps me going and striving to do better. The more I change, the more people see it. The more they see me changing, the more questions they have. The more I talk to them about my changes, the more they want to change. Now I know words to express things I’ve always felt, like Awen. It is fantastic to know something before you even know what it is. Druidry is giving me answers to questions I’ve always had. It has also given me a community of wonderful people to converse with and bounce ideas off of and hopefully return the favor.
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For myself it’s Asatru/Druidry. It’s been part of my life and heritage since the beginning I should say. And I remain true to it since.
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I found eclectic witchcraft first around age 12 and was on that journey for many years before I found a new calling. I didn’t know what it was exactly although it was more earth centered and less focused on the witchcraft aspect, especially as I seeing it becoming more and more pop culture and monetized which was driving me away. I just wasn’t connecting as much anymore, but knew there was something more out there for me which brought me closer to the Earth and focused less on other things. Druidry came up really when I was researching early practices of my ancestral origins and the more I read the more I thought “oh, well, this sounds more like what I need.” As I researched more about it and organizations associated I thought it was worthy of research, even if it may or may not be what my ancestors did and certainly not exactly the same if so. Since moving into more of a Druid focus it has really helped me spiritually, but also my conversationist/naturalist efforts have bloomed. Finding my spirituality in quiet nature and focusing less on what it can do for me rather than what I can do for it has really shifted my experience in a positive way.
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I had known how I felt in natural, liminal places all my life, so when I first found a description of the Druid history and path when doing a casual internet search in the autumn of 1997, I knew I had just uncovered the name for what had, and has, always been in my heart.
Buggered if I can remember the name of the website, though.
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I beg you pardon, but what is Asatru? Im not from America, an i never heard from it.
very nicely put. Reciprocation it’s also important for me.
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My friend is an Asatruar; for her, it is the belief in the Norse and Scandinavian pantheon of gods and goddesses. She reads the Sagas and the Eddas repeatedly. She celebrates the seasons … wheel of the year. I’m sure there are variations, but this might give you an idea or where to start with Asatru.
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I grew up Catholic but never liked it. I didn’t believe in God, church was mega boring, and there were too many oppressive rules. But I had to keep pretending to be a good Catholic OR ELSE!!!
After I moved out I never went to church again except for weddings and funerals.
Then many years later I was studying my family history and that led to studying Irish history and mythology and I learned about the festivals of Beltane, Lugnasadh, and Samhain. Then I was studying the Irish language and three of the months are named Bealtaine, Lúnasa, and Samhain. Then my dad asked me if I knew anything about druids so I read about druids and encountered the festivals again, and I encountered the modern druid orders.
I thought it was cool that there were people who celebrated the old festivals. I’ve always been a fan of being good to the earth, and when I saw the modern druids are into that too I decided to join.
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Asatru in an Indigenous European practice that follows similiar path as Druidry but with practical approach with Germanic and Nordic history told in it’s stories like Poetic Edda, Book of Enoch, the Bible, etc.
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for me, I was a lifelong Christian, started as Pentecostal, switched to Anglican. Little over eight years ago, I made a move back home. I left my church, my friends, my chosen community. Inso doing I knew I needed community, and I was part of an online community for Christians, former Christians who are deconstructing. Some friends in this group mentioned Druidry. I started looking at it. It resonated, and I guess you could say the rest is history.
This was also the time that I started looking at paganism. The moment of truth was leading into February. In the Anglican church, we celebrated Candlemas. It was one of my favourite services of the year. Learning about Imbolc, the lightbulb went on. The church calendar was lifted from the pagan calendar.
oh, I am totally glad for the changes that have happened in my life, as a result of being open to Druidry and an alternative religious lifestyle.
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I have been wanting to respond here but I’ve had a hard time answering because there’s no clear answer to me. I’m just on a path. Searching for me. Some cosmic cause and effect happened. There was no distancing myself from other “religions”. I dig them all (broadly speaking) for the good they do. I believe I have an appreciation towards “life” and the natural world consistent with others here. One notion of Druidry that I feel I’ve always been in alignment with, is the pursuit of learning (yes, I know you know, I’m behind on my local reading). I have had thoughts that the motivation behind the pursuit of learning, can be equated to Awen. If that be true, I’d be able to say I’m here due to Awen. Cheers
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Hello, NMO:
I, too, am Episcopalian, and was very encouraged to learn that the modern Druid Revival was incubated amongst Anglican clergy! I don’t know where you live, but I’m sorry to hear of your bad experience with the ECUSA; I have found that with it, as with so many human institutions, there is a great spectrum of emphasis and practice from region to region.
In answer to your question, my primary interest in Druidry was my quest to “free Christ from his Near-eastern Captivity”–to be able to understand the God whom the Bible describes on a climate and topography so different from my own. (Every time I read in Psalm 52, “I am a green olive tree in the house of my God,” I think, “Bully for you! What if I’m a sugar maple?”) More about that here:
I am a member of the Third Order, Society of St. Francis, and Francis stands at the center of my personal Venn diagram between Christianity and Druidry. The second thing that drew me to Druidry was a deep wish to to enter more fully into Francis’s Creation Spirituality, as I, too, found “a connection to Gaia since I view The Universe and all Life on our Planet as Divine.” I go into more detail about that here: The Godless Creation
It was my druid studies–along with the science-spirituality of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin–that made it possible for me to ponder seriously the soul of rocks:
Stone Speaks:
The Wissahickon Formation is…formed by very intense pressure upon…shales and sandstones; these were changed by metamorphism into schists and quartzites…The gneiss are composed of alternating bands of quartz, feldspar and mica. –Guidebook to the Geology of the Philadelphia Area
You do not understand the soul of rock,
neither do you comprehend the spirit of stone.
For whoever holds a garnet in the hand holds all garnet;
for there is only one garnet, and each contains the whole in
all its fullness;
Day and night it cries out, “We who are many are one body,
for we all share in the one nature of garnet.”
Pick up a stone; feel its heft, examine its many parts:
granite and quartzite, feldspar and staurolite—
Yet it, too, cries out night and day, “We who are many are one body,
for we all share in the one rock.”
Even a rock of one stuff, like limestone,
precipitated out of solution,
Formed into stone by eons of heat,
pressed into rock by ages of pressure,
cries out morning and evening:
“Come, seek out my caves and my fossils,
brave my lakes and my drumlins;
“For we are one in the nature of calcite,
and one in the body of this rock.”
Therefore, think less of a chiseled soul, with boundaries and a shape,
and more of a flow of spirit,
Ever recombinant, ever here at hand;
ever crystalizing, ever omnipresent.
Anyway, thanks for the question, and bright blessings on your path!
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One of my late friends who did accept me was a Third Order Lay Franciscan. I think that is why we got along so well. We were even roommates once. St. Francis of Assisi would have made a great Druid lol I was going to say something about your stone musings when I got interrupted, but it was lovely! I love stones and gemstones of all kinds. I have quite a collection of them. One thing I know is that I feel history when I hold them … so much history. It’s hard to explain but they are so unique, each one.
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I spend Saturdays reading Tarot in a metaphysical shop–I’ll think of you as I vibe with all the rocks!
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Thank you very much, Scott! I used to read tarot in a metaphysical shop, the one I mentioned before that had the local churches running it out of town. It was back in the late 80s that I was doing that and I did it a little for people in Ireland about 15 years ago, but don’t read them much anymore sadly. I appreciate the fact you will keep me in mind with all the stones around you 
I don’t have nearly enough here. I bet I would feel I never have enough lol Maybe I can get some pictures of all of them 
There’s a picture of mostly all of my stones. I have some in a safety deposit box. I wish I had more just I get mine ethically over the years. Some of these were found, others bought, and a few were gifts. Oh, and one of those is petrified wood from the Redwood National Forest in CA. Love my stones, lots more than the Rolling kind
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I post a picture every week on my Facebook Tarot page, “Sacred Well Tarot”.
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If I ever get back on Facebook I will check it out! I left months ago. I bet you get a lot of amazing insights.