What is Neopagan Druidry? by Fox
Neopagan Druidry is a group of
religions, philosophies and ways of life, rooted in ancient soil yet reaching
for the stars. We are part of the larger Neopagan movement, one of the world's
most vital and creative new religious awakenings. Like much of that movement
we are polytheistic nature worshippers, working with the best aspects of the
Pagan religions of our predecessors within a modern scientific, artistic,
ecological and wholistic context using a nondogmatic and pluralistic approach.
We call ourselves Druids, and we look to the ancient Druids - the priests,
priestesses, wise ones and magicians of the ancient Celts - for much of our
inspiration. Like them, we're people who value excellence - physically, intellectually,
artistically and spiritually.
Although our name implies an inclination toward things Celtic, we seek to
understand all of the currents within the Indo-European spectrum of religions.
In addition to those who follow Celtic ways we welcome Norse, Hellenic, Baltic,
Slavic and Latin Neopagans, and encourage each to take up the worship and
magic of the old ways.
What is ADF?
The full name of our organization is Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship,
Inc. The first part, pronounced "arn REEokht fane", is modern Irish
for "Our Own Druidism" (or "Druidry" or "Magic")
and that's what we are - an independent tradition (denomination) of Neopagan
Druidism. Since many people have trouble pronouncing and spelling our Irish
name, we usually just say "ADF".
ADF is working to combine in-depth scholarship with the inspiration of artistry
and spiritual practice to create a powerful modern Paganism. We're researching
and interpreting sound modern scholarship (rather than romantic fantasies)
about the ancient Indo-European Pagans - the Celts, Norse, Slavs, Balts, Greeks,
Romans, Persians, Vedics, and others. Upon these cultural foundations we are
working to build a religion that these ancient people would appreciate and
understand yet one which has depth and power for modern people. We're working
to develop genuine skills in composition and presentation in the musical,
dramatic, graphic, textile and other arts. We're bringing together people
trained in ritual, psychic skills and applied mythology to bring the remnants
of the old ways to life. We're creating a nonsexist, non-racist, organic,
flexible and publicly available religion to practice as a way of life and
to hand on to future generations.
In our fifteen years of existence, we have succeeded in building the foundations
of this vision's reality. We have local congregations, called groves, in many
cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Within those groves we are designing
powerful magical and religious ceremonies to bring the blessings of the gods
and goddesses to our world. Our groves offer regular public worship of the
old gods, serving as centers of Pagan organizing in many localities. We offer
our people the full range of religious and social activities including weddings,
funerals, child blessings etc. - along with ways of enriching the soul.
We're creating a system of training for solitary Druidic Pagans, so that those
who have no grove nearby can participate in our work, and benefit from communion
with the gods and spirits. ADF has long worked to build a solid, professional
training program for Pagan clergy. In addition we're building a system of
guilds, bodies of teachers and students devoted to traditional spiritual,
physical and artistic skills. Together we are striving to make our training
system the most complete and effective in the Pagan movement.
We're holding regional festivals to help our members meet, study, pray and
play together. We're building temples and holy places on the land, places
where the Otherworld and our common world can draw nearer. We're actively
preparing for the day when Pagan religions will be part of the mainstream
global culture.
