A Talk on Druidry

I was invited by one of my Pagan coven members to give a talk to another group based in Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, who had expressed an interest in knowing more of the path of Druidry.   So in January, I grabbed my cloak and staff and headed over to the village hall, where I met around 18 members of the Sacred Sound group, led by Nuala Fae. I was a bit apprehensive knowing that I had a two hour session to fill, and that each person had paid for attendance and the hire of the room, so the pressure was certainly on to fulfill expectations and ensure "value for money".

That said, I am passionate about my path and was looking forward to sharing many of the aspects with like-minded people, and also learning a little myself about the differences between Druidry and other paths of Paganism which others followed.  I may too many broad-sweeping assumptions that Pagans tend to be Wiccan, even though most I have met have been eclectic.

I began the talk by setting the scene, on how druids are depicted and to what peoples' views are on druids and druidry.  As expected, stereotypical of an old, bearded man in robes at Stonehenge!  ...just as an image of a witch is of an old hag cackling over a cauldron.   However, that image of druids is not actually far off; I went on to explain that ancient druidry took 19 years to learn before being established enough to commence being seen as a druid, so in all likelihood, druids would be quite old and wise.

After giving a lot of background on druidic history and the various periods of druidry through the ages, I gave some bardic tales to establish the meanings of modern day knowledge and it's origins from druidry.   I covered other aspects, such as animal and plant lore, herbalism, the sabbats and festivals etc.   Many people asked questions and wanted to know more.  A couple of people even seeing druidry as the path they should take as it has more logic, a deeper base within nature and an acceptance which some aspects of Wicca they struggled with.

I thoroughly enjoyed the session and believed most there did too.  We actually ran over with time and I could have certainly talked for longer, as i'm sure many would have liked to have heard more too.  A very enjoyable and enlightening evening.