Ancient Shamanism versus Modern Druidry by El Chupacabra

[PerseH ~Staff Wrangler~]

Until recent advancements in archeo-forensics it was assumed the name "Druid" descended from the alleged Indo-European root “dru-wido” relating to the endurance of oak. However, there was little to be found in Celtic burials to even suggest they were an elite order of a caste system. Rather, much of what the Romans aspired to compare with Hellenic tree spirit cults, was in fact shamanism, as can be found in most tribal cultures.

There is also a great deal confusion between them and ceremonial priests. While shamans were seers and healers, priests were the masters of ceremony when it came to preparing animals and rituals for the feast, hand fastings, or officiating decisions passed by the chieftans and the elders of the clan. Priesthood was not a position of permanence, rather elected by the tribe or sometimes even borrowed from other tribes, depending on their experience with certain rituals. Bardic tradition was more something that arose with the travelling minstrel. It had always been the practice of any Celt to retain and pass on one’s knowledge of a craft or heritage by means of allegorical verse. Being such widespread travellers and traders just simply can’t accommodate dragging along tons of written documentation at the risk of loss or damage when met with conflict or natural disaster. This is just the way it was in those days, and to truly understand it requires thinking outside of the modern conveniences we tend to take so for granted. In this respect Modern Druidry is quite a different cup of tea.

Modern Druidry came to be established through a revivalist movement inspired by the English antiquarian William Stukeley around the 1740s with his multivolume publication “Universal History”. Also deeply involved with Freemasonry and its esteeming brothers such as Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton, he pioneered the archeological investigation and reconstruction of Stonehenge and the Avebury megaliths. Unfortunately his assumption was that these monuments were built by “Druids” aspiring a religion of Phoenician influence introduced through trade along the Atlantic coast. Although the Phoenicians did in fact conduct such trade along the British Isles for tin and gold, modern forensics confirms that these megaliths existed well before the Phoenicians even appeared in the Levant. Taking these factors into consideration, however, does not necessarily deminuate Modern Druidry in its own right of bardic tradition and spiritual practice, provided it does not assume that the use of these verses and rituals qualifies the order itself as some millenial unbroken tradition.