Druids

In the Beginning...

The role of modern clergy has been a topic of heated debate, dividing modern faiths between "religions of clergy" and "religions of laity" governed by an ecclesiastical elite. Most (but not all) modern Druids follow the Celtic custom of making a sharp distinction between the public and a "Druid class"; but there is nothing in Avalonian Druidry that Druids do, that the Tribes do not do also in their own ways. The difference between an ADO Tribes member and an ADO Druid is much the same as the distinction between a person with artistic tendencies and a trained artist, or a person with a knack for healing and a trained doctor. The ramifications of this distinction set ADO apart from both modern paganism and mainstream religion. It also sets it apart from a majority of modern Druid groups.

A Much-Contested History of Modern Druidism

Druids are a contentious lot and for any one question about Druidism there will often be as many answers as there are Druids to respond. However, most Druid groups will agree with most of the following statements about the origins and history of modern Druidism:

Druidism’s roots go back 25-30,000 years.

Classical sources say Druidism started with the Celts in Europe, but some scholars make claims for different and much earlier origins; in ADO we are taught that Druidism is one of the native (or “Faery”) spiritualities of Western Europe and North America, originating before the time of the Celts.

As of this writing, the earliest known physical evidence of native spirituality appears around 25,000 BCE in European and 50,000 BCE in North American root culture.

The Celts are the inheritors of the native religion and document their encounters with native Druids.

By 58-65 CE Romans (and later Christian missionaries) have suppressed the open practice of Druidism in Western Europe, while absorbing its gods, practices, tenets, and sacred sites; Caesar writes and imposes his account of events as the official history.

1500-1700s: “Bardic” schools are still operating, but are largely ignored by both academics and the Mesodruids who court their favor. The translation of core Celtic literature sparks a revival of pride and interest in Celtic culture- including its religious spirituality, called Druidism. The Druid Revival is born and continues to the present day.

20th century: At the turn of the century, George Watson MacGregor Reid founds The Universal Bond (now called the Ancient Druid Order), which holds ceremonies, campaigns for social justice, and promotes the Universalist Church (later incorporated into the Unitarian Church). The Order attracts Gerald Gardner (founder of Wicca) and Ross Nichols, who goes on to re-direct Neodruidism back to focus a Celtic focus. Together, they develop the eightfold cycle of observances now used by most Neopagan groups.

In 1963, Carleton College students rebelling against compulsory attendance at

church services found the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA); an act which

evolves into an Order that will inspire the largest Druid group in America today,

Ar nDraoicht Fein (Our Own Druidism or ADF). ADF combines RDNA concepts

with founder Isaac Bonewits’s ideas to create a polytheistic Druidism with an

emphasis on scholarship and liturgy. The same year, Ross Nichols leaves the Ancient

Druid Order to form the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (or OBOD). OBOD

offers a nonreligious, philosophical and spiritual journey inspired by Druidry. Druid

memberships, however, remain confined to a handful of people.

In 1988, Philip Carr-Gomm, a student of Ross Nichols, is asked to lead the

OBOD. Under his leadership OBOD modernizes, establishing correspondence

courses as the primary method of training for the Order. During the same period,

two Avalonian Priestesses living on two separate continents found the New Avalon

Center for Women’s Mysteries (Elizabeth Nahum) and Avalon Priestess School

(Kathy Jones). Their protégés would bring Avalonian Tradition to the Internet,

providing the means through which new seekers and established practitioners would

finally be reunited. Most current Avalonian groups were established through

connections made on this network.

Avalon Druid Order (or ADO) is the founding Order of the Druid Branch of

the Avalon Mystery Tradition. Our spiritual lineage and many of our beliefs and

practices remain distinct, both from other Avalonian groups and from other Druids.

However, there are also universal principles and practices that unite nearly all Druids

under a common banner. These include:

- Honoring the Ancestors

- Honoring the Sanctity of Nature (Creation)

- Advocating for Cultural & Religious Tolerance

- Promoting World Peace

- World Stewardship or Living in Harmony with the Planet (modeling self-

sustaining lifestyles and practices)

Each Druid group shares these goals but accomplishes them differently. In addition to these focal points, Avalonian Druids place a strong focus on personal and community healing as the catalysts for healing the world. Unlike Neodruids, whose study is founded upon academic sources, Avalonian Druids learn primarily by observing the natural Cycle (Nature) through the lens of tradition teachings and practices, from ancestral story cycles and lore, and through intuitive practices verified by outside, academic sources.

A Much-Contested History of The Avalon Mystery Tradition

Avalonian groups do not recruit new members; however, in recent years a struggle has emerged between various groups and practitioners over who will assume the role of the Tradition's "Mother Church" or to lay claim to being its 'real' or 'original' wellspring. ADO sees diversity within the Tradition not as a threat, but as a source of strength that enriches our experience and deepens our understanding of Avalon and of our own history. Not everyone agrees and so this history, like the preceding Druid history, will be contested by some. In the end, it will be for each of you to determine where the Truth ultimately lies. Here, then, is Avalon's disputed history:

The roots of the Avalon Mystery Tradition go back 25-30,000 years.

The Tradition is one of the native or “Faery” spiritualities of Western Europe and North America and is handed down through two forms of lineage: (1) Hereditary lineages or “Bloodlines”; and (2) Spiritual lineages or “Motherlines” (i.e. the Tradition is handed down privately in kin-groups, families, and from teachers to students).

Schools evolve in the Celtic period, but are suppressed under Christianity, forcing the Tradition back into a family setting and occasionally, into the reclusive protection of certain convents and monasteries.

In the early 20th century, the Glastonbury “Avalonians” (antiquarian John Arthur Goodchild and mystics William Sharpe/Fiona McCloud, Dion Fortune, W Tudor Pole, Alice Buckton, F Bligh Bond, Katherine Maltwood, Rutland Boughton, and later Geoffrey Ashe) revive local interest in Avalonian legends and Tradition, paving the way for a popular revival of Avalonianism.

1960-80s: schools are opened on both sides of the Atlantic to train interested members of the public in Avalonian spirituality; in the 60s the movie classic “Camelot” brings Arthur and the Grail legends to a worldwide audience; “Camelot” and becomes a motif for an American President. In the 80s, MZB’s “Avalon” books bring a fictionalized version of the Tradition to a new reading public; a foundation later expanded upon by Manda Scott's “Boudica” series.

In the 1990s, protégés of modern Avalon schools bring different perspectives on Tradition teachings to the Internet, inadvertently connecting diverse practitioners and seekers. New Motherlines are illuminated, broadening the scope of training and spiritual practices, and leading to the new millennium founding of various groups and Orders. ADO is one of these Orders.

The Tradition can be divided into several branches defined by worldview, landscape(s), and spiritual practice: (1) pre-Celtic/Faery groups; (2) Celtic groups; and (3) Arthurian groups. These groups can be subdivided according to the kinds of communities they foster: (1) women’s mystery groups; (2) men’s mystery groups; and (3) mingled groups. ADO is unique in offering both same-gender circles and a Grove mingled circle within a traditional (tribal) environment that combines Druids and non-Druids in one spiritual collective.

The Tradition as a whole is self-governing, but groups tend to organize their teachings according to beliefs, practices, and customs characteristic of specific Avalonian “Ages”.

Study and practices are founded primarily upon worldviews, myths, customs, landscape(s), cultures, and folklore arising from ancestral cultures at specific points in Avalon’s timeline.

Today the Avalon Mystery Tradition is growing faster than ever before; however, membership numbers remain modest since published information is rare and most groups do not recruit new members.

Origins of ADO Customs, Teachings & Lore

While most modern Druids focus on recreating the practices reported by classical writers and inferred by Celtic literature, ADO takes its practices primarily from its oral tradition (the teachings passed down through the Blood/family and Motherline/teaching lineages). These two modes of transmission comprise the Tradition's spiritual lineage (though we are taught that the wandering Hedgerow Bards made fewer concessions to the demands of convention than did settled families forced to rely on the good will of neighbors for survival). To the greatest extent possible, ADO seeks to preserve and perpetuate not only this information, but also the manner of its conveyance. The Novice enters into a learning environment vastly different to anything with which they are likely to be acquainted.

The Place of the Druid in Avalon

Avalonian Druids are both like and unlike their counterparts in other traditions. Few modern Orders expect to serve a larger community with the authority of the ancestors; yet as perhaps the only Order that includes Tribes (non-clergy) members, ADO Druids may expect to come closer than most. Whether that role will eventually find acceptance within the larger society depends upon many things, and cannot become our goal if we are to avoid the sort of empire building to which other religions have devolved. Yet within our own community, it is to our Druids we turn to interpret ancestral signs and omens, as healers, as Officiants in ritual, and for spiritual guidance; for they are the keepers of the sacred stories that teach the lessons of Sovereignty; the hero quest upon which we are all embarked. For the Druids make of these story cycles a constant, formal, intimate study; the shades and nuances, the layers of hidden meanings, and the parallels with our own time all are known to them, and they possess the skills to bring these subtleties out. Through them Truths are revealed, and Mysteries taught. The story cycles are our living bond with the ancestors, a bond we rely upon our Druids to awaken and evoke.

Ethics & Morals

Much is made of the Celtic Druids as makers and upholders of Law. It is less emphasized in our lore principally because individuals were held more accountable -- both for remembering the rules and for abiding by them. In the main, individuals enjoyed quite a lot of freedom and the Tribe supported them in developing their talents with the expectation that they would be put to use to the demonstrable benefit of all. Most resources were held in common, and gaining an equal share of resources meant doing an equal share of work -- regardless of 'rank' or 'status'. (Avalon's native Druids were not an elite primping in ritual circles or on the High Seat of Prophecy, but weavers, hunters, and builders just like everyone else.) Since it was not a token (coin based) economy, community members had leisure for artistic and philosophical pursuits -- and they pursued them with relish, as the wealth of monuments and artifacts bears out!

Method of Training

Many modern Druids accept conventional schooling as half of a Druid's required study based on the argument that the ancestors accepted the lessons of childhood and adolescence as part of Druid study. Even were this true, the ancients were not raised in a society philosophically opposed (even hostile) to traditional worldviews, whose schools marginalized and obstructed intuitive methodologies. Far from helping to prepare us, conventional schooling obliges us to spend as much time unlearning as we do in learning our Path. Training that once began in childhood at the knees of Tribal Elders, now begins whenever we find the path under whatever Mentors fate puts before us. Thus, few (if any) living Druids can claim the level of mastery that the ancestors took for granted -- which argues powerfully for adhering to the standards set by the ancestors. These skills are not lost to us, but we are obliged to stretch further to attain them. Despite mainstream diminishment Avalon's lore is considerable, and it is upon us that the Tribes rely to sound Avalon's depths.

In Avalon it is said that all people can see, smell, taste, feel, hear and respond to input from Spirit if they let themselves, because there is no separation between Spirit and Matter. They are one. In most people these senses are merely dulled, atrophied from lack of use. With practice they can be reawakened. However, the average person cannot produce reliable results 'on demand' nor accurately interpret the 'messages' received (and certainly not through mainstream filters). What they know is adequate for modest, everyday needs; beyond this the skill of a trained, experienced Druid is required.

The Druids of Avalon do not use the subtle senses as fortune tellers use the Tarot. It is part of our work to be in constant dialogue with the surrounding world; we see the subtle senses as we see any other sense: each has its powers and limitations, and each should be used where it will best serve. To use subtle hearing to listen to the rumor of the earth is not far different than to use the ear to listen to speech. It is merely a matter of practice. What differentiates our Druids from other members of the Tribes is that they have dedicated themselves fully to mastering such skills and to knowing the lore through which it may be interpreted.

The Sacred Dreamtime

"The Dreamtime" is the eternally present moment in which all beings and places are one. It is all places and all times and encompasses all beings. Here, the stories of our ancestors live and unfold before us, even as do the events of our present and futures. Here the Dreaming is not separate from our daily life, but exists alongside it, at the corner of our vision. To enter Avalon's Dreamtime is to enter into and experience Creation's essence and to feel ourselves one with all that Creation encompasses. This experience of Oneness (or Harmony) occurs through the medium of deep communion with the sanctified landscape. The Avalonian Dreamtime is a place without boundaries that is common and available to us all, if we but open to it. It is the place of convergence of history and myth, fact and imagination, desire and manifestation, past and future, ordinary and nonordinary reality. As such, it is also a primary mystical Gateway. It is the profound and subtle knowledge of the workings and uses of this Gateway that distinguishes Avalon's Druids from the rest of the Tribes.

Thus the Dreamtime is a place, a state of being, an awareness, and an eternal, all-encompassing "now". In its simplest sense, to "hold the dream" means to resanctify, remember, and renew our acceptance of the Dreamtime's reality as perpetual "charm of making; an act of collective self-transformation. Access to this Dreamtime is often associated with "thin places", energy vortices, electro-magnetic anomalies, or 'sacred sites'; but the Wise can access it from any place and time. It is always with us, for it is also our inner landscape. It is part of the work of the Druid to achieve a state in which we are always engaged in this dialogue, where the awareness of Avalon's Dreamtime is ever maintained.

The Nine Strands of Service

As you can see, in many ways there is little to separate Avalonian Druids from their kith and kin in the Tribes -- and that is as it should be. We can none of us afford the colossal arrogance of believing ourselves superior to others simply because we choose to focus and express our energies differently. It is a failing of modern thought that we see everything in such polarized terms ('black or white', 'this or that', 'right' or 'wrong', 'big' or 'small') when the world is nearly always this and more. The love of diversity and a deep and abiding respect for others as "Beings of Light" (emanations of Spirit) must lie close to our hearts if we are ever to claim the title 'Druid' -- whether as members of the Tribes or as Druid clergy.

Most Druid training prepares us to embrace a fuller understanding of reality, and of our places within it. The path unfolds differently in different traditions and Druid groups. In the Avalon Mystery Tradition (and specifically in ADO), all members share in the Druid Mind. We do not use the Celtic 'Grades' of Bard, Ovate (Vate), and Druid. Our "Pathwalkers, Singers, and Dreamers" are not separate 'Grades' for all utilize the same skills; they merely use them differently. It is the uses to which the skills are put (i.e. how they are made to serve the community) that defines the Discipline.

The idea of "service" is complex and subtle in Avalonian Tradition because service lies at the heart of all that we do. Each Discipline may offer service through one of three "paths" (similar to "vocations"). Each of these is in turn an expression of service in its ninefold aspect. Again, the skills used by each of the Disciplines overlap so these divisions are somewhat arbitrary:

Tribe (I. PATHWALKER: Maintaining community, life with the Ancestors-past, present and future. Languages, customs, culture, myths, wisdom, and landscape)

Art of Making (Resanctification, manifestation, working the land, understanding the ways and workings of Creation through direct observation, experience, and study.)

Memory (Development of the Subtle Senses, the Hunt, tracking lore and lineages.)

The Greater & Lesser Mysteries (II. SINGER: Worldview, metaphysic, nature of reality, reasons for Being, life and death, rebirth, Cycle, the Otherworld.)

Ritual & Ceremony (Symbol, Natural Laws, Rites of Passage, spiritual observations and practices.)

Stewardship (Natural Philosophy, Resanctifying the Outer World, maintaining tradition, custom, and sustainable practices.)

Holding the Dream (III. DREAMER: Origins, Roots, Collective Identity.)

Midwifery (Soul Work, spiritual guidance.)

Keeping the Harmonies (Attunement, rebalancing. Star lore. The Art of Renewal.)

To live our beliefs moment by moment, day by day, to share in the Druid Mind and to maintain our spiritual community will require us to fulfill all of these functions. For who can truly keep lore without also knowing the Tribe and holding the Dream? What steward is not also a midwife? What spiritual observance can avoid entering into profound communion on all of these levels? Together, these strands make up the fabric of life in Avalon -- then and now. But these nine strands are not unique to Avalon's Druids. All authentic Druid traditions and groups will observe them in some form, and the form will be unique to the Druid tradition. The strands shown here are shaped and formed by our own unique mythos, ancestors, and lands.

The Meaning of Service

Modern people have an understandable horror of servitude, but 'service' is not meant to be 'slavery'. In our own time, the integrity of this ancient relationship has been much degraded and in some places it has ceased to exist altogether. 'Servants' are often seen as 'inferiors' who merit whatever treatment their superiors (those being served) choose to inflict upon them. This sort of mutual abuse has virtually no relationship to the true meaning and original intent of "service".

To the Druid, service is an art form in which each person both serves and is served. It is a sacred exchange, a symbolic acknowledgement that we are all equal, all self-reliant, yet all dependent upon one another for survival. It is customary to alternate roles according to the needs of the situation and ancient custom. Many modern people are accustomed to serve only their own desires and interests, an attitude supported mainly by the illusion that modern science can protect us from Nature, evolution, and change; but no community can long survive unless its members serve the common good. Few modern groups insist upon this as a central tenet for member behavior. We do -- as a matter of basic self-respect, mutual respect, and as a requirement for survival. Whatever our roles, we are all members of the Tribes and are obliged to serve the community. A Druid's service is distinguished mainly by its focus. When the workday is done and others are at their leisure, the Druid may still be found working away for the benefit of all. Where there is sickness, we seek remedy. Where there is want, we strive to alleviate it. And where there is injustice, we struggle to restore balance. We do these things in part from the knowledge that those we help are also those upon whom we rely, and so our service is part of a fair exchange that benefits us as well.

This is of course the ideal and often we must exert ourselves to meet it. The distances separating us can sometimes be great. But experience has taught us that these challenges may be overcome if one is willing to adapt and change in order to adopt an authentic tribal mindset. The ancestral way is neither impossible nor impractical to uphold and where the heart is true, head and hand soon follow. To be a Druid is to serve, but it is a service which gives back as much and more than it demands.

Life in Druid Community

None of these sharings will be revelations to those even slightly familiar with Druid and/or Avalonian literature, even in its present diminished form. What is slightly more difficult to grasp is the experience of this type of communal spiritual life if one has not had the benefit of living it face to face. Naturally, Avalonian community changed and evolved over time, and no book or website could possibly begin to convey these millennia of changes with even a modicum of truth. Fantasy? Yes, we all know something of the fantasy (castles and towers, maidens and knights) ... But one cannot dwell long in fantasy before it begins to lose its savour -- and this is where myth comes in.

Myth is no more than legend diminished by time; and legend no more than history, forgotten. This is, in part, why Avalonian Druid practitioners choose one point of historical (or mythological) focus upon which to base the template for their modern work. It is necessary that Seekers and Members should have some means, some basis for imagining the underpinnings of ancient life, since these practices form the basis for our own. Therefore, we have undertaken to summarize the chief points and characteristics of a sample "settlement" from the perspective of how our Druids interface with their Sisters and Brothers in the Tribes who are called differently to spiritual service. Simply click the icon below to explore further.

It is our hope that this overview will provide a basis for your contemplation and questions, and a structure for your own rememberings of life in ancient Avalon, and to that end we must further contemplate some basic assumptions about our reality: time and space.

Moving Between Worlds

"We stand with our roots in the past, our branches in the future. To

grow straight and true we must be nourished by both. Ignore the past, and

we may cheat the future; ignore the future, and we may cheat the past. Diminish

either, and we cheat the present. Seek, therefore, the balance, so that past and

future may live in the present, and the present may be nourished and strengthened

by both."

Buddhist Mysticism

The Nature of Immortality

Nothing that is held in memory passes out of being; but to be remembered, a thing must first be closely observed. This is the basis for "spiritual observances", and the practice of honoring the dead by remembrance. It is for this that we honor our ancestors, and by remembrance do they become immortal. For this, Druidry places such great emphasis on observation, memory, and recitation. It is an ancient and near universal native concept.

The Ancestors

The ancestors and the primal lands are the primary focus of Avalonian remembrance; for to remember them is to remember that we all partake in Creation and in the essence and energy of its Source. We are all emanations of One; thus, we are kin to all Being(s) and have many kinds of ancestors, past and future. The Primal Ancestors, those that provide the basis for life, are the indwelling spirits of the Three Realms (Land, Sea, and Sky), beings often remembered as 'giants'. These powers (along with the most familiar ancestor deities) have their dwelling in the Ancient Age (which is also the far future), and we honor them by honoring Sovereignty and resanctifying the land. Ancestors living in the distant past and future (those removed from us by more than 25 generations) are said to dwell in the Middle Age. They are usually seen as collectives and include nearly all the denizens of Faery and the High Kin. These are customarily honored in local sanctuaries, temples, or shrines. Most familiar are the ancestors who dwell within 25 generations of the present moment, a time period called by the far ancestors the "Present Age". These include blood relations, for whom we create household ancestor altars and who may visit us at Festivals, at the family mound, or at the birth of a new child. As our closest emotional bonds tend to be with other humans, the family home is a central focus of spiritual contemplation, with the same authority as any spiritual Sanctuary.

The Family Mound (Cairn, Long Barrow, Tomb)

Periodic gatherings of the extended family occurred at family mound(s) at key points in the year (i.e. Samhain, family anniversaries, etc.). During a typical grave gathering, incense, food, drink, and praise offerings were given and a feast enjoyed. It is forbidden to speak the name of the deceased for the first two years after death, out of fear of calling the soul back across the waters. After this, they can be honored at the home altar and remembered at Samhain, but are not named in casual conversation. Not until the thirty-third year after death was the soul believed to be securely ensconced in the Otherworld.

Early family burial mounds resembled domed houses, whose linteled doors faced on stone courtyards. Tribal and family symbols inscribed upon the entrance stones served as name markers, and a low stone inside served as an altar upon which offerings were arranged. Inside the tomb were housed the remains of several generations of family members whose bones might be consulted on important family matters, just as those of Druids and Chieftains were consulted on matters pertaining to the Tribes. In the main, the oldest male physically maintained existing burial mounds and establish new ones when necessary, while the Elder Mother (or her designee) spiritually presided over it. Druids were assigned in the same manner to the tombs of Druids and Chieftains.

Various taboos exist in relation to mounds, many of which survive in Celtic literature. As a type of soul-shrine, the mound was treated with great respect. Visitors behaved as if in the presence of a powerful and respected living person. Country folk in the Isles still consider it rude to point at a tomb, speak loudly concerning the dead, or take pictures without the prior permission of its occupants and descendants. It is considered dangerous to desecrate a tomb by graffiti, vandalize or disturb offerings, or to approach without proper authority. Fear of offending the dead is the basis of admonishments against visiting graveyards at night.

The Elder Mother

Anciently, the oldest female relative acted as primary Officiant for family rituals and was the person primarily responsible for making daily incense offerings to the Hearth Gods and Spirits of Place, for remembering each family member to the ancestors, and for keeping the family ancestor altar (a duty now shared in most households). Divination, dream interpretation, and family counseling were also within her province. She was seldom a graduate of Avalon's Mystery Schools or Druid Colleges; but she held a position of honor respected by everyone in the community, nonetheless. Today, the oldest male relative has an equally important role, for he is obliged to reclaim the role of sacred Guardian of the home and family, a role he must teach and pass on to other family members.

Community Worship

Collective worship centered around the 18 pan-Avalonian deities who together govern the "fabric" of our shared existence: the seasonal Tides, the Three Realms, Time, Weather, etc. and the greater Chthonic spirits (Spirits of Place). Especially old or powerful ancestors act as local deities and as Guardians of family or Tribal "sacred sites". Such sites are commonly marked by a grove, a spring, or a cave located near the settlement, entrance to which is restricted and the sanctity of which is always respected. The most sacred spot at such a site is the node where the songlines meet, and the area around it, where only a Druid priestess (or the "High Druid" of a regional Grove) might enter to make offerings and prayers.

The Midwives of Spirit

One of the most important functions of the Druids was as "Spiritual and Souls Midwives." "Spirit" here refers to the essential life force of the collective; while "soul" refers to the the essential life force of the self. Both "spirit" and "soul" are immortal, and each is subject to the same perils. In each instance, family elders and Druids have their roles.

The soul of a dead person may cling to a living person or to the place of death, and may require a ritual of separation or conveyance to a proper resting place. Complex, yet subtle rituals of separation removed the clinging soul to a place where it could find rest. Soul essence could also be transferred by contact with people, their likenesses, or objects invested with their energy. The spiritual essence of dead (or "extinct") peoples may do likewise, requiring similar rituals of separation to liberate them and heal the residual spiritual wound.

For the living, banishing, shielding, morning and evening salutations, and ancestor offerings are potent preventatives against soul and spirit-loss, and even possession. Should fear, stress, loneliness, helplessness, poor relationships, sudden shock or a lack of necessary psychological/physical resources overcome these preventatives, lost soul or spirit may be restored via Soul-Calling (soul retrieval); a function performed by family elders or Druids, depending upon the severity and scope of the problem.

Following personal habit or custom, and the simple blessings said after a sneeze or scare are vestiges of methods used by our Elder Mothers to address soul-loss. The Elder Mother could also perform a ceremony, addressing prayers to ancestors and household gods before making an apple, incense, and praise offering to the ancestors at the place where the loss occurred. Taking three stones from the place, she would tied them up in clothing worn during the loss and return home to offer the three stones and a special meal to the ancestors. Should these proceedings fail, Druids were summoned to call or "sing" the soul back home.

Druids were also employed to cleanse and clear places of hauntings caused by the "wandering dead", the unquiet souls and spirits who linger on the earth plane or in the vale between worlds causing illness, injury, and misfortune to the living. The Druids accomplish this feat by discovering how to make amends with the offended spirits and forging a path toward congenial coexistence, where possible -- or, if necessary, by banishing the troublesome beings, rendering them harmless. Today's Avalonian Druids perform a similar healing service not only locally, but on behalf of our world.

The Druid Priesthood

"Druids" are people specializing in Avalonian magical-religious practices, whose social roles correspond to those of Dreamers, Singers, Healers, Lore-Keepers, Stewards, Guardians, Enchanters, Law-Givers, and Mediators both within the living community and between material and immaterial beings. Unlike the Elder Mother, who may offer solace and prompts, but not guidance to the soul on its journey, the Druids are the trained Midwives of Spirit: the Spiritual Guides of the Living and the Dead whose lanterns light the songlines and paths of Spirit into and out of this plane of existence.

Though men assisted and played supporting roles in ancient ritual, our lore (oral tradition) tells us that it was the priestesses who were the first Druids of the Holy Isle, and who first communicated with, made offerings to, and, at times, invoked ancestors, local gods, and more powerful deities. The local priestess's primary duty was to officiate at regional festivals and rituals held in sacred sites such as groves, caves, or seashores. Another of her primary functions was to tend the communal fire, which was used to establish new households; a function observed on the regional level as tending the Eternal Flame.

Just as each local Tribe has its elders and local priesthood, so each region, and each Order. Regional Druids were responsible for conducting the training at the great "schools", and for presiding over the rites at regional gatherings. As the Oracle of the Gods, regional priestesses foretold auspicious days for sacred ceremonies, social functions such as marriages or funerals, hunting, planting, and (later) for battle. Land was set aside for their use and each household sent a girl to both the local priestess and to the regional "school", to aid them in their sacerdotal duties; a custom which persisted into the later Celt-Arthurian Age.

Even today, in remote areas idiosyncratic Druid traditions persist. In many places the memory of a "Ninefold Sisterhood" persists, surviving in place-names throughout much of Scotland and Wales. These early priestesses became the priestess-queens and well-maidens of later literature. As demand for their services grew, the Sisterhoods began incorporating a single male priest into their rites as the hidden "tenth of nine". More trained priests created a greater demand for places and more males were incorporated into more spiritual work. "Schools" were established to train them, eventually rivaling those of the Sisterhoods for prestige and power. The stage was set: with the coming of patriarchy the women's roles were diminished and finally supplanted by the very male relatives with whom they had sought to share their spiritual power.

In this time, our mandate is to strike a "perfect balance" between the sacred masculine and feminine, respecting each in its differences while honoring them as equals. The task is one for which we have no perfect template, for never before in human history has this balance been successfully struck for more than a fleeting instant. Now our very survival depends upon finding and maintaining it; for in this point of balance is the still center where our kinship with all Creation may be revealed, and a lasting Harmony may be reestablished.

We do not need to be Druids to commune with Spirit or with Nature. It is not the purpose of our clergy to stand between our members and the spirit realms; in fact, we believe that such separation is at the root of many modern evils. Our Druids are not people who have powers others do not, nor are they a privileged elite. We are simply members who feel a Call to Serve through this Tradition and this community, and who have acted upon that Call. We are people who have profound respect for personal and collective sovereignty, and the skill required to perform certain necessary tasks, and who are willing to make the personal sacrifices to attain them.

The Tribes are those who serve by passing on Avalon's customs, worldview, and spirituality to future generations, reclaiming in the process our most important resources: family and community. This role is no less sacred, no less ceremonial, and no less honored than any other. The Tribes are people of craft, the creators amongst us, whose labors profit us all. Without them there is no future -- let alone a future Tradition. Without our Druids there would be no memory, no record of our past (ancestral) Tradition. Together we are the Naohm, the sacred Ninefold One; and it is the wisdom of the Naohm to know that only together, through the Love we share in this moment, may Avalon's full power be invoked.

Footsteps of the Gods

"Art" as a Map of the Sacred

We come now to a fundamental key to Avalon's ancestral wisdoms, one which applies equally wherever Avalonian ancestors and/or practitioners may be found: that symbolism and art are but the outward expressions of the inner nature and story of the Land. The ancients made nothing gratuitously. In Avalon, all things, including sacred objects and works of art, have a practical purpose that resonates in all the realms and through every plane of existence. They are the visual record of an ancestral language; one whose wisdoms we may 'read', if we possess the knowledge understanding. Naturally, millennia of 'keys' cannot be conveyed in the space of one web page. What can be conveyed is a sense of the 'grammar' that gives this language structure, knowledge of which may enable us to begin deciphering the messages the ancestors have left to us.

As always, if we are to share these wisdoms we must first share an understanding of certain basic terms, some of which we will have encountered in their "common" (public) forms in the course of reading this site or during our experience of Tribes work. Each merits our careful consideration, for we walk now the borders of an Initiate's understanding of these terms. Let us keep these teachings private to current Lifetime Members-in-good-standing, and Singers, Dreamers, and Pathwalkers of the ADO only ...

The Dreaming

"The Dreaming" is the continuing story of existence as we experience it in vision through dream-like states. It is also an expression of the Braithion worldview; the way the far ancestors understood and explained life and Being, and as such it is known to all the Tribes as a central feature of Traditional Tribal lifestyle and culture. The stories of the Dreaming determine our values, our beliefs, our relationship with every living creature and with the features of the land itself. All members of our spiritual community contribute to the Dreaming, and all partake of it; but only the Wise (i.e. our Druids) have learnt its deeper secrets and know how to interpret it within its proper context.

Journey of the First Ancestors

The Dreaming tells of the Time of Making; it is the story of the First Ancestors whose actions gave the Land its shape and form. The actions of the characters within the stories reveal how the Land, Sea, and Sky took form and shape. (The story of the Land really refers to all three realms, in much the same way that the idea of "the world" is the vehicle through which we experience all worlds and realms; thus one is used as a short-hand term for all.) To know the Land's name and story are necessary keys to accessing, arousing, and directing its full power; acts necessary for those working to re-enchant the landscape or who seek the blessing of Lady Sovereignty for their endeavors.

Vestiges of Braithion Dream stories may be glimpsed in the Celtic stories of place. Familiar examples include:

How the Cailleach dropping stones from her apron (or two disputing Cailleachs throwing rocks at one another) formed the islands' mountain ranges;

How the Cailleach's regenerative cycle stories (as reflected in tales of the Crone and Maiden) and the tale of Kernal (or 'Cernal') express seasonally through the autumn and spring tides;

How one of Hu's giant oxen, in drawing the avanc from the lake waters, burst its heart and fell, leaving the impression of its body in the landscape;

How Fae women moved giant menhirs by walking, spinning, and chanting (or later, how Merlin "sang" the Stonehenge stones over water from Ireland to their current location); and

How the failure of Well Maidens to keep vigils at sacred wells caused inundations that gave birth to great rivers (such as the Boyne and Shannon).

Each of these stories tells us something about how the land was formed, the expectations placed upon us as stewards, and the consequences when we fail in this role. These themes are common throughout the ancient lands of Ynys Afallon and Avalloch. Similar themes are reflected in certain Algonquian stories (a people said to have 'absorbed' into their own culture the surviving Avalonian Tribes of eastern North America) told by Amerindians living along the Spirit Way -- lands Traditionally ascribed to Avallenia.

It is interesting to note that most, if not all, of the first progenitors remembered in Avalonian story lore are "giants" (Ceridwen, the Cailleachs, Hu, etc.). It is a concept found in many native world cultures and is one of the binding truths of the ancient world. The appearance of these giant First Ancestors in Avalonian literature, myth, and lore is thus a powerful verification for the antiquity of the story cycles we have inherited -- both orally, and through the written literature.

Concept of Time

The Dreaming is not some long past age or era, but a continuous process of becoming from which people come, which people renew, and to which people return. Art is one of the keys through which we experience Oneness with and communicate "the Dreaming that is Creation". When we remember and retell the sacred stories, when we take on the characteristics of the first ancestors through dance, song, and art, and when we maintain sacred sites, the spirits of the First Ancestors are renewed.

Dreams of the Unborn, Conception & the Bond with the Land

We are taught that each place has an indwelling spirit. This "spirit of place" is really a localized expression of one or more of the Dreaming's First Ancestors, which continue to live as "sleepers within the land" they helped to shape and form. As the Tribes settled they became aware of the dominant energy of place as it resonated and expressed through their beings; energy that became the Tribe's Dreaming (i.e. symbolic Tribal plant or animal). This special bond with the Land, this sharing of spiritual energy, would defined the type of landscape to which they would always be drawn.

Along with these primal ancestors are many related spirits awaiting rebirth. At the moment of conception these subtler emanations join with the incoming spirit of the unborn, kindling life making breeding mothers aware of the new life within them. Symbolized in the form of plants and/or animals, they make up the unborn child's Dreaming. In early times, a rite was made to reveal to mothers the Dreaming of their unborn children; but later the power of the rite was given directly into the hands of the children themselves, and is known to us now as the "Dream of Calling".

'King' and 'Country'

Nature (the natural world) provides the link between the people and the Dreaming, especially the Land (or 'Country') to which a person belongs. Braithion people see themselves as related to, and part of, this natural world and know its features in intricate detail. We belong to it (as opposed to 'owning' it). Our bond with the Land carries responsibilities for each person, special obligations to protect and preserve the spirit of the land and the life that is part of it. Conservation practices, observing traditional laws and codes of behavior (as well as secular laws), and involvement in secret/sacred ceremonial activities all help to fulfill our obligation to the Land.

Within this primal landscape we are each presented with a collective and an individual challenge to effect healing and experience our Oneness with all Creation. This challenge (and how we meet it) comprises the central motif of all Avalonian story lore. In it, the protagonist (the hero or heroine) embarks on a journey during which s/he will be confronted with the challenge in various guises. When the challenge is successfully met, the blessing of the Land ("Sovereignty") is conferred; from this derives the leader's authority. In early times this Hunt was undertaken by each member of the Tribes and the prize was self-empowerment and self-governance ("self-rule"). Later, it was laid to one individual who assumed responsibility for all (i.e. "a ruler of others"). This later motif evolved into the familiar story of the trials of the candidate for kingship; but it is the earlier motif of self-rule which concerns us here.

The "hero's journey" is the Hunt for one's own power and authority. It is the journey through which we come to know ourselves as we really are, and become the individuals we were born to be. Succeed, and it is the road to our own greatness; fail, and it is the descent into Shadow. Like all Braithion artwork the story is actually a map which, if followed, may illuminate the way to following the hero's journey ourselves. As we shall soon see, other types of artwork provide other kinds of maps, and each is a key granting access to another aspect of the Dreaming -- keys known to us as "The Mysteries".

Because it provides the framework for living, the influence of the Dreaming pervades every aspect of daily life. It permeates our song, dance, storytelling, painting, artifacts, making, hunting, and food gathering, as well as the bonds of kinship. In Traditional belief, the Dreaming is intensely personal. Each person is linked to it by a "coming of age" Dream or "Dream of Calling". These individual Dreamings reveal not only vocation, but symbolic plants, animals, and patrons presenting themselves as guides and mentors to the person's growth and development. We are also linked to it be the spirit of the place in which we were born. A birth-place is a portal that is like a keyhole; only those spirits "keyed" to its energy may enter. As we pass through this portal, we are marked by the energy of the spirit of place, which becomes an inherent part of our being. The ancestors believed we must die in this, or a similarly keyed place, if our spirits are to find their ways safely to the Otherworld. To die in a place to which our energy was not keyed was to become a "lost" or "wandering soul". Dreamers were often employed walk the Songlines and Spirit Ways in search of such "lost spirits" to guide them safely back across the waters.

Guardians

The word "guardian" has many meanings in our Tradition: the inner guardian, who challenges us when we seek to enter where we are not prepared to go; the guardian who protects Tribe and Land; and the guardians of the inner planes, who challenge those seeking entrance to the Otherworld and sacred sites. The title "Guardian" confers responsibilities of the highest order. There are many quiet, sacred places waiting for us to resume our care of them, to "take guardianship" of the place. During later Braithion and Celtic times, the duty of the guardian defined the territory occupied by each Tribe. Today the term "guardian" refers to the title of Druids dedicated to the protection of Tribe and Land, but also to all members of the Order in our function as spiritual stewards of the land.

Cultural Heritage

Not all people are Dreamers; but all people of the Tribes Dream. The Dreaming is as important to us as the sacred books of mainstream religions are to their devotees. It provides a social and spiritual foundation and links us to ancestral spirituality, kinship practices, and traditional values and beliefs. The Tradition is the form in which the Dreaming is passed on to others to preserve this foundation. It is both our inheritance from the ancestors and our legacy to future generations.

"The Art" of the Arts

The people of Avalon have always represented and symbolized our world, our beliefs, and our Dreaming through the Arts. Art is central to Avalonian ceremony, but also to collective and self-expression in daily life. Dancing, singing, body-art, sand drawings, and the art of making are separate, but are also a part of resanctifying daily life. We use the materials that are readily available to us in any given place and time to symbolize our worldview. As a result, art forms vary across the three ancient Orders and across the historical timeline. Ground drawings, petroglyphs, rock art, body-art, decorations and embellishments were and are common, with styles, methods, and materials varying from Tribe to Tribe.

Nothing was purely decorative. Every symbol used had layers of meaning that were intelligible to all the Tribes, as well as local meanings relating to local stories of place that might be more obscure. Common motifs included cup marks, spirals, speckles (or dot patterns), and labyrinths (each of which referenced different place stories, spirit associations, and meanings), each of which had its corresponding place in the sacred landscape. Labyrinths, for instance, were common at the Center (the heart or naval) of the Land. Complementary designs and decorations were applied to the body, garb, and ceremonial objects, as well as to shields and other weapons.

Mythological Forces

In a ritual or ceremonial setting, these designs (in combination with the correct secret-sacred chants) are used to evoke and charge otherwise 'profane' objects with the energetic essence of mythological forces. The charged objects are then used to direct the flow of power into participants (a process familiar to most of us as one of the basic steps in ritual evocation and invocation). These mythical forces are the energies of the First Ancestors, to which all Braithion people are symbolically and ancestrally related. They are not dead, but in a watchful rest, living within the Land as Guardians of the Inner Planes and roused to action by sacrilegious behavior or disregard for ancient custom and law.

The ancestors often destroyed the objects bearing these designs after use to prevent their being profaned in secular situations. It is a precaution worth our careful consideration as more and more people come back into an awareness of ancestral practices. Today, the subtler meanings of many of these symbols have been forgotten or forsaken in favor of generic pagan interpretations. Of course, nothing about ADO is "generic". Where subtler meanings have been forgotten, our Elders use references from lore, Immrama, Doorway, and of course verification to rediscover them.

Earth Works

Obviously, since many of these designs were carved in stone, they were known and recognized by everyone within the Tribes; but their inner meanings and uses were known only to the few. Only after extensive ritual is the knowledge imparted and only by extensive practice and experience comes the competence to render the designs correctly. An incorrect rendering can evoke or release energies quite different from those intended. Amongst the Tribes, young people were sometimes employed as apprentices, each learning their craft in the same-sex circles in which the Mysteries are still taught today.

In addition to this delicate work, large earthworks and even whole megalithic complexes were also built on these designs (Avebury, the Serpent Mound, Mai Dun, the Tor, Temair, and the landscape zodiacs being but a few examples). The symbolism here was the same as that used for personal and local decoration, and again a form was chosen to compliment the story and energies of the site. Though the Tribes members worked along parallel paths to their Druids, using songs and dances, and marking the earth with leaves, sticks, or their hands in telling the stories, their knowledge did not extend to the depths attained by their Druids and they were not involved in making the earthworks. This task was reserved to the Druids, their novices and apprentices, and the building of a new earthwork drew Druids from every Tribe to contribute their labor, skill, and Awen.

Each site that is still active has at least two makers who act as stewards to it, and two guardians who ensure that the stewards maintain correct protocol. In the making of sacred sites there is no "artistic license or freedom" in the modern sense. Unless given formal dispensation, makers can create only those paintings over which they are recognized in their Dreaming as having authority. Each major earth work (sacred site) represents both specific geographic locality and a mythological event that occurred there (the story of place), although inevitably related sites and myths will also be recalled. The most learned may well know the details of hundreds, even thousands of earth works. It is the persistence of the designs over a great many generations that allows for such feats of memory.

An indication of the ancient derivation of the designs used at such sites is that identical design elements occur in many pictographs, some of which are now known to be ten to twenty thousand years old. Plain and concentric circles, Coelbren, Ogham, "lozenges", "key" patterns, sun, moon, and stars, straight and sinuous lines, and animals or tracks prevail in each art form. In addition to recording stories of place and identifying local resources for travelers, each site acted as a map of the cosmos.

This almost certainly derives from the Hunter-Gatherer culture of the Braithion. For the hunter, conservation of energy is as essential as the discovery of game. By shaping the land, the ancestors were able to bring into focus its message; enabling travelers to know at a glance the story of place, the spirits inherent therein, and the location of specific resources, as well as the Tribal Dreaming. Thus Braithion art is also an expression of hospitality; a way of seeing to the safety and comfort of travelers even before they appear at one's settlement gate.

Summary

The world of the far ancestors was imbued with meaning and with magic. It was a world defined not by separations, but by a profound awareness of Oneness and by a deep respect for the interwoven life and spirit inherent in all Creation. For us this ancestral view, and not modern mechanism or materialism, defines the real world. We know ourselves as integral to this reality; as members of the Tribes we should each have a basic familiarity with the motifs and designs of ancestral art and their traditional uses within the sacred landscape. Below are some of the commonest motifs. We are sure you will find them all quite familiar!