Beliefs
My beliefs are based off of Irish/Scottish/Gaulic mythology and Archaeology, and some presentday Druid's writings. I would classify myself as a Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan, though I fondly call my self a Druid. Please see the Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan on Witchvox for more information on Reconstructionalism (they define Reconstructionalism better than I ever could).
I am going to tell you here and now that you absolutely must go outside to become a Druid. It is impossible to become a Druid while sitting in your house. Now this being said I know it is hard to tolerate the 120 degree heat that we have in July, but you must. To be a Druid one must be intune with the land. Also remember that you will not become a Druid over night, it took an apprentice 20 years to become a Druid.
Now I am going to lay out the brand of Druidry I practice...
These are the Nine pagan virtues I live my life by:
1) Honor: a keen sense of ethical conduct, one's word given as a guarantee of performance, respect and esteem shown to another.
2) Discipline: orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior
3) Courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty
4) Truth: the state of being the case, sincerity in action, character, and utterance
5) Loyalty: unswerving in allegiance, faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product
6) Justice: speaking the truth, or fact, the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action, the maintenance or administration of what is just. I belive this includes dealing justice when you or a family member are wronged. If you wrong against someone, expect justice to be dealt to you. Such as: when walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.
7) Hospitality: given to generous and cordial reception of guests, promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome, offering a pleasant or sustaining environment
8) Industriousness: accomplished with skill, showing or calling for intelligence, marked by especial aptitude at discovering, inventing, or contriving, marked by originality, resourcefulness, and cleverness in conception or execution aptitude, or discernment, persistently active
9) Self-reliance: reliance on one's own efforts and abilities, ability to be independant
In the beginning the were two Celtic Holidays. Samhain, Bealtaine, and one added later Imbolg. Then the festival of Lugh was added. The Celts celebrated 4 holdays. Since I am a "Neo" Druid I celebrate the 8 festivals that most pagans celebrate. The main difference is that I do not believe in the standard "Eternal Goddess, and Dying God" or the all goddess' are the Goddess and all gods are the God. I am a polytheist, I celebrate the appropriate deity on the appropriate day sometimes, there is only one, and sometimes I luck out and have both a god/goddess for the day such as Samhain. Most often, there is only one deity or maybe several possible deities to celebrate. I also honor gods that nothing to do the the 8 hoidays. I selected the day they are on because that is either the day that such a deity would be celebrated on (ie: Lupercalia) or the day that I encountered that deity (ie: Latha de Caelan). You will find the standard 8 hoidays in this gray color and my personal ones in green.
Bealtaine (Pronounced Bel-Tain) May 1: Belanos Note this is Celtic New Year, not Samhain, for more info go to Celtic New Year
Mean Samradh (Pronounced Mun Somrah) Midsummer/Litha (Pronounced Lee-ah) June 21: Manannan Mac Lir
Lughanasadh (Loo-na-sa) Aug 1: Lugh/Tatuli
Latha de Caelan Aug 30: Caelan Cinn Cait
Mean Foghamhar (Pronounced Mun Fower) Midfall/Mabon Sept 23: Meadhbh/Modron/Mabon
Samhain (Prounounced Saw-win) Oct 31-Nov 1: Dagda/Morrigan
Latha de Epona Dec 18: This was the day the Roman's honored Epona a goddess they adopted from the Celts
Mean Geimredh (Pronounced Mun Geery) Yule Dec 22: Beira/Bheur/Cailleach Bheur
Imbolg (Pronounced Im-olk) Feb 2: Bride
Lupercalia Feb 14: I like to call it "Latha de Oengus Ogg" or Day of Onegus
Mean Earrach (Pronounced Mun Eric) Ostara March 21: Ostara (Germanic or Saxon Goddess) I also celebrate Ares at this time.
Latha de Cailleach April 25th: This was thought to be the beginning of spring in Scotland, the day Beira's reign ends.
I also honor other deitys on different days for example if you were looking for a Celtic god to honor on Lupercalia (Feb 14 or 15) we all know this is St. Valentines day but the deity that fits the bill is Oengus Ogg, the closest you will ever come to a Celtic love god.
Now I know you are saying to yourself, "whoopie, another list of the holidays, only this time 4 of them have funny names, and there is a list of deities, thats different". Ahhh-ha, have you made observations of what nature is doing around these holdays? That is the important thing. Now in the southern Arizona area there are three growing seasons, the hoildays could almost be reversed as they are in the Southern Hemisphere. To realize what is going on in nature around certain holidays, I keep a journal. I know that about 2 weeks before Mean Samradh the locus begin to buzz in the trees. I play a little game with myself, how would I know what hoiday it is if there was no calandar? Hmmm...
Speaking of Calandars, the Celtic Tree Calandar from The White Goddess is not accurate. The Celts did have a calandar, and today we call it "The Coligny Calandar." It is a 13 month calandar that is based on the moon cycle. And it is important to note that the month starts on the new moon, not on the full. The Celts loved "tweens" or inbetween times, such as dawn or dusk, the banks of a river, and the new moon. The inbetween times are magical moments in time, or powerful locations.
I believe in three worlds: Thisworld (some would go Tolken and say Middle Earth, some would go Norse and say Midgard), the Otherworld, and the Underworld. Thisworld is obviously this world we are in. There are three parts to this world (as I believe there are three parts to the otherworlds), the land, sea and sky. The Otherworld is where the gods and spirits reside, the Otherworld I believe is superimposed over Thisworld. The Underworld is under the sea, and is where the dead go (Wiccan's would call this the Summerland). The gods, spirits, dead, and even we can travel between the worlds (although it seems harder for us to travel, and is many times harmful to us).
Lets talk about the Sidhe (Pronounced she). To me the Sidhe are the gods, Lugh, Oengus, Dagda, Bride, Morrigan etc. are all members of the Sidhe. You will find that the Sidhe are also said to be fairys or the "little people." I am not sure how the mighty Sidhe got reduced to the "little people." I believe Christianity had something to do with it, and so did Shakespeare, he is the one that came up with the gossamar winged Tinkerbell fairy. I am a great believer in "spirits," to me the "little people" are just spirits, not the gods. To me Dryads are spirits, you also have animal spirits, ghost type creatures are spirits etc.
There is a great Myth that goes around that says the the Mother/Queen of the Celtic Gods is Danu, because the name of the tribe of gods is "Tuatha de Danann" belived to mean "Tribe of the Goddess Danu." Many many people believe this, infact you probably believe this yourself. Let me explain how this is not possible...
Danu is a reconstructed name and never appears in any Irish myths. The idea of Danu the Mother Goddess of the Tuatha De Danann was developed by Victorian scholars missreadings of the Irish texts. Danu is the daughter of Delbaeth and the wife of Tuirell (Tuirenn), and is the mother of only the Tri De Danann or the three Danann, some how this was misinterpreted to be "Tuatha" De Danann.
These very same Victorian scholars felt that there should be a pantheon of gods much like the Greek and Roman deities. So you would have a hierarchy with a king of the gods such as Zeus and a queen of the gods such as Hera. Great plan, there is just one problem the Celtic gods were tribal ones. This means the hierarchy with a king and queen of the gods doesn't work. Gods that people worshipped in one area of the country had different names and duties that the gods in another part of the country. There wouldn't be a queen of the gods such as Danu simply because for example; the people living in Brittany would have never heard of Danu who was a mainland Gaulic goddess.
While I am debunking myths here, the Celts and/or Picts did not use a plant by the name of "Woad" to paint or tattoo themselves. Apparently woad is great for dying cloth, but it doesn't work so well on/in the skin. Woad would also look black, since it is essentially the same color/chemical as indigo blue, and was replaced by indigo which was much easer to create. What was probably used was copper oxide pigment which is highly toxic, or iron oxide. (Iron oxide can give a blue color also known as Prussian blue, Chinese blue, Bronze blue, Milori blue, Paris blue, Non bronze blue and Engineers blue.) The fact that suports this theory is that copper oxide and iron oxide pigments have been found on bog bodies such as Lindow Man. Now I will grant you that Lindow Man was probably not a Celt or a Pict, but we do know that they painted themselves. We also know that woad doesn't work on the skin. Caesar, describes the blue as "vitrum" which is a natural glass sillicate containing potassium, aluminium, and cobalt. This was said to be ground down to a powder and mixed with fat, then smeared on the skin it would be a sort of blue-green to cobalt color, not black.
Now I know I said at the start, "I believe Druidry and the practice of this religion are based on locality. Basically what is found in your environment." You are now wondering how I interact with my environment. I looked around me and tried to decide what things stood out to me... I don't know how to explain that anyother way.
I do have some Land Vattir or land sprits I honor, one very important on is the Saguaro Maiden (I believe her real name is Sugu-ik Oof). I believe that the Saguaro is VERY important because Arizona and parts of New Mexico are the only places it grows in the world. I periodically make offerings to saguaro cactus. In Tohono O’odham beliefs strength was measured by the ability to go without water in the arid climate. The first saguaro was made when a young woman sank into the earth and rose back out as a giant cactus.
Another important spirit (I guess she would be a goddess), although I haven't had any contact with her is Mayahuel the Agave plant. The Aztecs thought so highly of this plant, that they often painted Mayahuel, a fertility goddess, sitting within the leaves of the plant nursing a baby. It has been used for centuries for things like house building, clothes, rope, food, and drink (they make Jose Quervo and mescal outa this plant). The agave/century plant/yucca all generally have long, sturdy leaves bordering with sharp spines, they sort of look like a large grey aloe vera.
While I do honor these Land Vattir/land sprits and gods, I still hear the call of my ancestral gods. I have an altar set up in my home for them, and I speak and prey to them every day. I do not feel honoring these native gods/spirits is wrong in anyway. They were here before me, all I do is offer them respect and remembrance.
If you feel the need to e-mail me try: skullarix@cox.net