Origins

Ages & Archetypes: 30 Millennia of History

Prelude

Not all traditions have a long history, and history is not a guarantee of authenticity, but perhaps because Western society has eradicated any awareness of its own roots in the ancient cultures of the "Old" and "New Worlds", Americans in particular tend to demand of their religions long, showy lineages reaching back into antiquity as a condition for accepting them as "valid". In ADO, we follow the Law of Pragmatism, which states: "If it works, it is 'real'; if it does not work, it is not 'real'." Yes we have a long history, but it is not our history that makes our Tradition and our Order vibrant, powerful and "real". It is the living connection to the land and its indwelling spirits, to our ancestors, and to those in the Otherworlds, that lends power to and authenticates our work. The Druid Tradition of Avalon is not a fiction. It does not derive from the minds of romance or fantasy writers, but from the inner planes of all the lands upon which we and our far ancestors have lived. It is not the special property of Britain or any other modern nation, but a legacy that exists in (and belongs to) all places and times. At its roots, the Avalon Mystery Tradition is part of a tradition more widely known as "Faery" (native or indigenous humanity's "first faiths"). ADO's Druid initiates are those skilled in the expression of this truth as it was known to our far ancestors and as it is experienced through the land by people on both sides of the mirror today.

The histories of societies and cultures pass with them into legend, and in the fullness of time into myth. The spoken word has the power to perpetuate and even revive ancestral worldviews. It embodies the Dream of our shared reality; thus, retelling "myth-story" remains a critical part of any oral tradition. Through these ancestral sacred story cycles ponderous natural phases such as the Great Year may be known and fathomed and their effects remembered and understood. Few modern Traditions retain this wisdom; thus the new Seeker comes to Avalon with small experience of the importance and uses of such lore. If, as Druids, we are to understand, master, and absorb this ancient worldview and use it as a foundation for establishing an Avalonian spiritual practice in our own time ... if we are to perpetuate the customs, lore, and ways that have been handed down to us in a form appropriate and responsive to the needs of the present moment, then we must share an experiential understanding of the worldview that shaped them.

Ages & Archetypes

An "archetype" is the original or prototype (as opposed to an "icon" or representation thereof). The primal, archetypal Avalon exists all around and within us, in everything, every place, and every time; but ideas, like beings, have a life of their own and must evolve and adapt in order to survive. What we in ADO call archetypal "aspects" are simply names for the places where Avalon's Mysteries have evolved unique characteristics, creating denominations (or "branches") that set them apart without removing them from the Tradition, the shift from matriarchal to patriarchal society being a prime example. We believe that the Age we now enter embodies the transition from a society centered on either feminine or masculine energy to one that encompasses both as different but equal (egalitarian) forces.

The time periods in which each of these three philosophical archetypes (Mother-centered, Father-centered, and Egalitarian) is dominant could be said to represent Avalon's different "Ages", and are part of a repeating cycle that cannot be fit to linear models or conventional linear histories. The far ancestors neither saw nor experienced time as we do. For them, it was not a linear progression marked by arbitrary number values, but an unfolding story, bending back upon itself and retreading its steps in ever-evolving ways. Within this context, the Primal Ancestors (the shapers of this world who provide the basis for life, often remembered as 'giants') have their dwelling in the Ancient Age; an Age that is also the far future. Ancestors whose lifetimes are removed from us by more than 25 generations, but who are not Primal Ancestors, 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. In time past, they were honored mainly outdoors at "roadside shrines" or altars. Those who dwell within 25 generations of the present moment exist in the "Present Age" (from which we descend again into a time of shaping, or "Ancient Age"). Thus Avalon's many ancestors include both spiritual and blood forebears remembered at outdoor altars, household ancestor altars, the Samhain Feast, at the family "mound" (or burial site), and at the birth of a new child. The family home -- in particular the hearth, which anciently resided at the "heart" of each home -- provides a central focus of spiritual contemplation, with the same authority as any spiritual Sanctuary.

Within these basic cyclical designations we find the various historical points of focus and their corresponding practices. Historical points of focus are places where Avalonian Ages coincide with the Ages of conventional histories in defining ways. For example, in Avalon the Copper/Bronze Age marks the time when patriarchy supercedes matriarchy as the dominant philosophical and societal standard. If we look at how this developing patriarchy finds expression we will see points of significant change (such as Celtic, Arthurian, Christian, etc.) that can serve as convenient developmental "periods". These we call "historical points of focus". If we examine modern Avalonian practices across groups, we find that different Avalonian groups use the customs, beliefs, and methods of these different periods as templates upon which to base their modern work. Each chooses the template that suits them best, and which they believe best serves present needs. Of course, such arbitrary divisions of time held no meaning for the far ancestors, who saw reality as a story bending back upon itself, without beginning or end. Our obsession with measuring and controlling time would seem bizarre, even pathological to them -- and in fact, they would be quite right to think so; for nothing has taken us quite so far away from Nature as our obsession with controlling and manipulating time.

In ADO, we see the dawning Age as the part of the story where the world spiritually descends to the collective Station of Confrontation in the cycle of Great Years, during which we face the cumulative consequences of millennia of poor judgements and imbalance. The collective awareness stirs with the vague sense of impending, inevitable, sweeping change that heralds the onset of the Wasteland. Though we have not yet faced this Wasteland, the promise of rebirth already shows itself. We see this in the re-emergence of Nature Religions and Goddess culture, even in the midst of a heavily masculinized, industrialized western world. Such change is always difficult and dangerous. The presiding powers seldom relish yielding their authority and control. It is the intensity of these struggles which mark them as major transitions; when those in power resist the turning of tides, their tightening grip destroys much that might otherwise survive. It has happened before -- but in the past, ancestral lore, physical fitness, knowledge of survival skills, the ability to cooperate and collaborate, and the planet's own strength and natural diversity helped to protect us. These advantages are now lost to many of us. Our best hope, then, lies in making ourselves more fit to survive: in reclaiming the wisdom and skills to live harmoniously within Nature; in learning to govern ourselves instead of remaining children reliant on a parental 'leader' whose very task is fated to corrupt us and them; and in marrying these skills by reclaiming the ability to live in true, self-sustaining, egalitarian community. We believe that only through these skills may we successfully meet the coming changes and upheavals.

We are taught that each New Age begins with a time of transition that marks the decline of one type of society and the ascent of another. New World Amerindians have called the time now ending the "end of the Fourth Age" or the "End of Days" (not to be conflated with the "End Times" of Christianity). If we look at these prophecies through the ancestors' eyes, we recall that for the far ancestors Creation itself was eternal; thus the stirrings we feel are not the end of all things, but merely the death throes of the world we have known, and the labor pains of a new Age already coming into being. The Age to come will echo many aspects of those that have gone before. Patterns will seem to repeat, offering opportunities to break out of outmoded ways of thinking and being. In such times our potential to effect positive change is manifestly increased. In times of chaos, world stewards skilled in the basics of life in the Wildwood and the ways of community are uniquely qualified to provide guidance and leadership... All we need do is to overcome our own egos and a lifetime's bad conditioning; to find the courage and imagination to face the Truth head on; develop the Will to transform ourselves into proper stewards; and to commit our Hearts to doing it -- whatever that might mean.

The Power of Number

The ancients believed that Harmony results when all things are in balance, reflecting the natural order of Creation. This order was defined in terms of cosmology, and number was its template. We are taught that all things in Creation are in a perpetual state of imbalance, seeking balance. It is the force of this imbalance that causes motion, change, momentum, and which, in counterpoint to the gravity at the still centrepoint, generates the centrifugal force that causes all things to turn back on themselves. The idea that space is actually curved, and that time is cyclical rather than linear, are both examples of this understanding. The number templates that defined ancient cosmologies also recognized this concept and held it at their centres. The ancients understood Balance and Harmony in terms of the relationship between stillness and perpetual movement. For this reason, their numerological systems each had an even (balanced) number hidden at their centres. Vestiges of these past cosmological systems remain with us and inform familiar aspects of our world even today.

For example, Western Christian society's twelve month year with the sun at its center, 12 man juries presided over by a single judge, counting by the dozen, etc. all mirror a template of Jesus (the solar, sacrificed god) and his twelve disciples. Although we think of this as a "twelvefold" system the central number is actually thirteen, with Jesus "hidden" at its center. Each cosmology has such a hidden center, and each retains certain elements of its predecessors (e.g. the seven day week, the seven planets, etc.). Within each cosmology, numbers have esoteric significance and energetic characteristics that define their principle functions and endow them each with specific meaning. Interpretations of the influence of each number vary according to the prevailing worldview. (For example, the number "1" can be understood and experienced as either the unifying principle or as an oppressive, controlling force, depending upon one's perspective.)

One finds Avalonian templates based on twofold, fivefold, sevenfold, eightfold, ninefold and twelvefold cosmologies. A ninefold template (with a hidden tenth at its centre) typically heralds the dawning each Avalonian Age, and signifies new beginnings informed by past lessons. Thirty years ago the Tradition stood on the brink of extinction when the Internet arose to reunite Avalon's long separated practitioners. The ancient Dragon and Hedgerow Schools were revived, bringing the teachings preserved in the Isles and Brittany to an international public for the first time in millennia. This fulfilled an ancestral prophecy about our time; that a generation would come whose work would restore the whole fabric of the ancient Tradition and set the stage for a re-blossoming of Avalonian spirituality in a new Age. That Age is now upon us.

The Early Tradition

In the beginning, long before the coming of the Celts to these shores, the Avalon Mystery Tradition was comprised of the beliefs, customs, practices, and worldview of the native (or 'Faery') people of the "British" Isles (the "Isles of the Mighty"), Western Europe, and eastern North America, people we call "Braithion" or "Cruithne" (the "speckled peoples" mentioned by the Celts and later peoples). These people believed themselves descended from three royal lines (or "Noble Houses") of immortal ancestors: the Houses of Ceridwen & Celi, Dôna & Beleu, and Penarddun & Llŷr . The denizens of these Houses were not worshipped as "gods" in the modern sense, but were seen as spiritual teachers and guides, upon whose example the ancient Tribes based their own culture, spirituality, and society. Thus, as the prime ancestors inhabited a mother-centered world governed by three matriarchs, so too their descendants, Avalon's nine archetypal Tribes.

These first Nine Tribes shared one philosophy and method of spiritual practice which, handed down from generation to generation, established a Tradition that forms the basis for our own spiritual practice today. This ancient, formative period we call the First Age, or the "Age of the Mothers". It was a time of explosive growth in which the three Tribes of each House grew and expanded, ultimately encompassing twenty-seven Tribes in each of the Three Realms (or eighty-one Tribes to each House). These first Tribes formed the three archetypal Avalonian Orders. There are three traditional teachings on which of these three Orders was "the original": the Avalonians of Iberia* teaches that the Tradition came from Avallenia (northeastern North America) to the western Isles, spreading from there to Western Europe; the Avalonians of Alba* say that the Tradition appeared first in the lands of the Welsh-speaking peoples and from there spread to other lands; and the Hibernians* say that it began with the coming of the Gaels. (*Terms corrected to reflect current usage.) In ADO we do not choose between these teachings, but hold each in memory with equal respect.

The Age of the Mothers marks thousands of years of relative stability and peace in which the Tribes had no Chieftains, but sat "in Council" and lived as Hunter-Gatherers and Pastoral peoples sharing common resources. (Without surplus stores, there was no surplus to fight over). The short-term surplus created by the shift to agricultural society cost the land its long-term fertility, leading to shortages and creating an obvious inequity that prompted the conversion of hunters' skills to warriorcraft. As new, massive tools were too cumbersome for child-bearing women to manage, men became the primary providers. Power shifted out of the hands of women, reducing their value and status within the community. The Age of the Fathers was at hand.

From the onset of the "agricultural period", the collective perspectives shifted from an expectation of abundance to a "poverty mentality" founded upon the fear of shortage; a fear predicated on the subconscious awareness that unsustainable practices made shortages inevitable. Profiting from their neighbours' misfortunes gave those who controlled the surplus a powerful (if short-term) survival advantage, which provided a potent incentive to create future shortages and initiated a self-perpetuating cycle of excess and want that continues to define modern markets and societies today. The era of the collective ("the many") was over; the era of self-interest ("the one") had begun. Thus the Age of the Fathers has led us to the threshold of the Wasteland.

It needn't have been this way, but we must now act circumspectly and cautiously if we are to avoid reliving past mistakes. We cannot restore a natural state of Harmony and Balance by swinging from one extreme to another. Thus our charge is not to recreate the Age of the Mothers, but to establish the Third Age, the egalitarian Age of the Tribes; an Age honoring a true balance between the sexes and promoting the self-actualization of the individual as part of (and in service to) the collective. It is toward this balance that we now strive.

The Modern Landscape of the Tradition

If we cast our eyes beyond the bounds of our own Order, we shall soon see that the landscape of the ancient Tradition has re-manifest in slightly revised form today; not through the auspices of any one person or Order, but by evolving organically through the voice of the land and our shared ancestors. It is a revision that in every way mirrors the structure which lies at Avalon's roots and origin. It is a fascinating mirror of all that Avalon has been in the time before -- and all that she may be in the days to come...

Avalon's modern practitioners may be generally categorized along the following lines:

1. Solitary or Group

2. Matriarchal council or Patriarchal linear hierarchy, or some combination of the two

3. Hereditary or Teaching lineage ("Blood or Motherlines"), or both

4. Same-sex circles, Groves with both men's and women's circles, and/or "Tribal"

communities

5. Reclaiming or Traditional, or both

Because we are all drawing from the same pool of culturally specific folklore, literature, sacred landscapes, and artefacts, modern Avalonian groups and practitioners share a great deal in common that is distinct from the teachings of Neopaganism and Neodruidism; however, each group presents this common material very differently, according to their chosen points of focus. The resurgence of interest in Celtic culture has made this the period of choice for most Avalonian groups, bringing money and media attention to this branch of the greater Tradition. But the bulk of Avalonian Tradition, like the bulk of history, is not Celtic and did not originate with one or two groups or individuals, but with countless ancestors and their descendents. Though groups are often founded and develop independently of each other, they remain tied to Avalon's Traditional roots; thus certain tenets and general teachings continue to be held in common.

Closer scrutiny of practices across various Avalonian circles soon verifies this claim. Such comparisons often incite the wrath of individuals and groups that fear and resent being defined by others -- and rightfully so. We have ourselves suffered as a result of other people's misinformed theories about us. However, any meaningful exploration of the greater Avalon Mystery Tradition will require us to examine and compare the spiritual practices of different circles which claim to be 'Avalonian' and to describe them as we observe and/or experience them. To that end, we have categorized some of better-known Avalonian groups according to the historical points of focus which seem best to correspond with their professed spiritual practices as we understand them:

1. Faery (native) Avalonian Druid Groups (Avalon Druid Order / ADO, Green Dragon Grove):

Teaching Order and Tribes community; Healing School and Grove. Locations: The

Highlands, VA / Uisnech, Éire, respectively.

3. Early Celtic/Sisterhood Groups (Avalon Priestess School / Brighid's Academy of Healing

Arts ): School and circle incorporating a somewhat eclectic mix of teachings; and

Traditional mixed Grove. Locations: London & Glastonbury, UK / Uisnech, Éire, respectively.

4. Middle Celtic/Sisterhood Groups (New Avalon / SOA): Women's circles & school(s)

including reclaiming and some outside influences. Locations: Asheville, NC / Ithaca, NY.

5. Late Celtic-Arthurian Groups (Sisterhood of the Hearth / British Mystery School of

Avalon / Avalon Mystery School / Brotherhood of Avalon): Sister & Brotherhoods, groves.

Locations: Salt Lake City, Utah / Somerset, Britain & Wales / the USA, respectively.

Between these groups there is great variation -- even amongst those whose practices derive from the same time periods. For instance: Sisterhood of the Hearth, the British Mystery School, and Avalon Mystery School are all defined as "Celt-Arthurian", yet not all are 'Druid", not all are exclusively Celtic, and each places themselves differently in the sacred landscape. The reasons for this are many. Whilst a common landscape template informs the whole Tradition, its features find unique expression in each local environment. In addition, even slight shifts in time and location may mean working differently with the land and/or with different groups of ancestors. Thus, although all Avalonian groups share a common taproot ('Avalon' or what we call, 'the Greater Tradition'), the experience of each group remains specific and unique.

The Return through the Mists: The Power of Tradition in Manifesting Ancestral Intention

Those who have read Alwyn & Brinley Rees on the early Celts will find the focus and physical placement of these modern Avalonian groups of particular interest. The brothers Rees, drawing on original documents and writing as native Welsh scholars, present an intricate picture of the ancient correlations between cosmology and the sacred landscape as manifest in proto-Celtic culture. The earliest Celts more closely resembled the native Druid culture and were more easily assimilated into it; thus, the observations of the brothers Rees are of prime interest to us as well. In brief, here is the landscape they describe:

Both native and Celtic Druids recognized that power derives from the sovereign Lady of Life whose body is mirrored throughout Creation, and they courted Her acceptance whenever they arrived in new lands. Both the navel (umbilical connecting us to the Mother) and the heart of Sovereignty were seen to reside at the land's center; thus, the ancient Druids were much occupied with identifying their locations in the immediate landscape(s) with which they were acquainted. Once a regional center was located, the surrounding land was divided into portions or parts that were each ascribed magical properties and characteristics. Each area returned a portion of its land back to the common center which acted as the regional font of wisdom and justice for the local Tribes and their Druids. Here they built their Mystery School and (later) invested their Chieftains. The number of magical "parts" corresponded to the prime number of Tribal cosmology. For the Celts, this number was five (four quarters with a central fifth); for the Picts before them, seven, and for the first or 'Faery' people (the Braithion), nine. The magical properties and characteristics ascribed to each also changed according to cosmology.

The land was also divided north and south according to polarity; the masculine north governing administrative functions (warriors and lordship) and commerce, and the feminine south governing agriculture and the arts (heart, home, and 'song'). Of the two, the South was accounted the more important for its focus was resonance, the principle by which all things come into being and an emblematic power of the three immortal Mothers who together represent the sovereignty of the lands where dwell their spiritual and blood descendents. These polarities met and merged in the land's spiritual center (which did not always correspond exactly to its physical center). Often twin centers or "hubs" existed, the southern "song" center serving Spirit, and the northern serving Lordship. For example, we may look to Ireland, where Tara served as the primary seat of kings and Uisnech as the primary seat of Druids. It was a pattern repeated at sites across the ancient landscape.

What is interesting about this is that while the above-named groups have evolved independently, if we imagine them to occupy one modern Avalonian landscape we find that they reflect this ancient template extremely well. The numerology at the base of each group's spiritual methodology is also consistent with the pattern documented by the brothers Rees, as are the regional "centers". For instance even in America, Avalon's Celtic Sisterhoods tend to work within a fivefold system (five "chakras" or light centres), while her Faery Druids employ a seven or ninefold system (depending upon their exact point of focus). The two primary Avalonian groups are centred in the north and southeast, reflecting the ancient twin centers of the sacred landscape. In the Isles the same pattern emerges. Considering that Avalon's modern schools and Orders have all evolved independently of one another, this is an extraordinary coincidence; one which we feel demonstrates the power of a real Tradition to manifest its founding intention generation to generation -- with or without our direct knowledge. This is the power of drawing strength from a common taproot, even when branching out into the future. The longer a tradition has been maintained and perpetuated, the more powerful these roots will be and the greater their ability to manifest.

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This Hearthfire last kindled on: 26 October, 2010

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PREFACE: by the Founding Elder Dreamer

There are many ways to tell the tale I now unfold to you. We are a Druid tradition and so I will tell the tale as it was told to me, and my mentors before me. It will also be my tale, as I have seen, lived and studied it, for I too have a part to play in this story. Some may dispute it, believing themselves possessed of the "only" Truth or the "only"Avalon, but this has never been my truth - and that is the only Truth that I can tell. May it leave you feeling nourished and satisfied!...

ADO Founder & Elder Dreamer