The ancestors of Druidry
This is a bit from Druidry and the Ancestors, which, if you get the urge, is on amzon and assorted other places in both book and ebook form.
We have a vague collective awareness of ancient Druids, as a religious group associated with Celtic peoples. As Ronald Hutton went to some length to demonstrate in Blood and Mistletoe, all of the written information about the Druids has come from other sources, and none are without issue. In a much older text, archaeologist Stuart Piggott also explained there are no sites featuring a word for ‘Druid’ that give us a definite link between physical evidence and Druidry. iii Outside those uncertain classical texts, we can only infer Druidic practice by first assuming the presence of Druids. Consequently, there are many things we ‘know’ that could be true, but no indisputable facts. However, the past few hundred years have been full of speculation about the early Druids, including all kinds of ideas that probably had no historical accuracy. Picking through these is very difficult, not least because the ideas and images are so widespread, like the claims for a Stonehenge association, human sacrifice and the white-nighty-robes. None of this necessarily has anything much to do with our ancient Druid ancestors.
In his books, Graham Talboys makes a case for the survival of bardic schools and the transmission of Druidry by other means. If ‘Druid’ basically meant the educated classes, then Druidic ideas will have survived in stories, wisdom teachings, and so forth. It’s a very tempting argument, and one my heart wants to believe even if my head remains uncertain. I hold a duel understanding of this theory. I feel it as truth; I accept it intellectually as unproven. This is entirely comfortable for me.
If our ancient Druid ancestors were complicated, the more recent ones are far more troublesome. The Druid revival began with antiquarians. Archaeology was a new science, for which the rule books had yet to be written. Men with all kind of drums to bang and personal theories to shoehorn in somewhere piled in. Men with political agendas looking for icons to work with. Men who just wanted some fame and money and weren’t too fussy how they got there. Yet from amongst the flights of fancy, forgeries and self importance of the Druid revival, came the seeds that have grown into modern Druidry. Just as we may look back at our blood ancestry with mixed feelings, so too can we find our ancestors of tradition are a challenging lot as well.
Understanding that influence, and facing up to it, is essential. We need to own the story, warts and all. Some of the prayers we use in modern ritual, the forms themselves, and even the cherished awen symbol probably originated with Iolo Morganwg, a man set on forgery and self aggrandizement, who used those around him and betrayed every Druid principle he ever put on paper. His inspiration was beautiful, his life was not. We can make our peace with that.
Mark Lindsey Earley, writing in the handbook for Exeter’s Bardic Chair sums the situation up in this way:
It is worth pointing out, at this juncture, that the historical accuracy of Iolo’s claims is highly dubious and that in all likelihood no such ‘ancient manuscripts‘ ever existed, despite his ironic espousal of the bardic/Druidic motto ‘The truth against the World‘! However, we think it’s rather harsh to label such an important ‘hero’ of the movement as an out-and-out fraud. A more mystical perspective might theorise that he ‘channeled’ his information. At the very least we like to think that he was creatively inspired, and that, although the history he outlined was possibly a purely ‘romantic’ one, it is no less important or valid, as long as we distinguish it from academic history.
The less we make outlandish claims about our historical heritage, the better. The more we focus on our behavior in this time, the better. We need to know how we got here and how that shapes us, and we need to hold a realistic understanding of what modern Druidry is, and where it comes from. With that in place, we have room to talk quietly about the other ways of knowing, the heartfelt truth, the wisdom inherent in trees and the land that comes down to us regardless of human foibles, or any other story that we feel compelled to share. Stories are wondrous things, but it’s important not to confuse them with anything else.
